Blathering Lockdown: Day Ten
Posted on February 2, 2008 Posted by John Scalzi 126 Comments
BLATHER TEST:
Is the book done? NO
Blather limiter: ON
Your question for the day: What’s a song you love that you think no one else knows about?
Mine: “That Ain’t Bad” by Ratcat. Yes, I realize you Aussies might have a clue about this one. Let’s just say the band didn’t really make the transition to the northern hemisphere.
For everyone else, here’s a YouTube video, clearly ripped by some dude who unearthed that tape he made one day in 1991 when he stayed home from school, bonged up and watched music videos all day long:
Gosh, I didn’t know the lead singer was so pretty. It’s like he went forward in time and stole Eva Longoria’s hair.
Okay, impress me with your musical obscurities. See you tomorrow.
Savage Rose: “Dear Little Mother.”
Listen to it twice and it wraps itself around your brainstem. And the singer has an awesome voice.
Sparks: “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the Both of Us.”
Some people hate the falsetto.
A song called Ba-na-na-bam-boo, by Westworld.
It’s from the 80’s and its a fun little catchy tune. I’ve got it on vinyl, and I’ve never heard it anywhere else.
Streetnix, “Lesson”. Sixth track on their experimental album. They were an a capella group of I believe five young men from Saskatoon, and they broke up soon after the Ignition album.
“Liberty Lies” by David Baerwald. He was one of the Davids in the band David & David, who had a minor hit in the early 90’s with “Welcome to the Boomtown.” Some good singer-songwriter stuff.
The Delgados: Thirteen Gliding Principles
Probably at least a little well known in the UK after getting pimped by John Peel , But stateside I’ve found exactly 0 people who knew this band before I met them.
Trocadero: Superhero
Best knows as “Those guys who do the music for Red vs, Blue” Turns out they’re pretty spectacular.
And finally: Elvenking: Seasonspeech
Power Metal featuring 4 vocal archetypes! Clean male, Death grunt male, Operatic Female, and Angry female. Bonus Geek Points: Its based in norse mythology!
For all you Canucks out there this is not obscure but everyone else needs to hear Tragically Hip’s Poets, and also Grace, Too. And every other song they ever wrote.
Ill testify to that Homie, Trouble at the Henhouse roxxors my soxxors every time.
“Growing Up With GNR” by Aquaduct is catchy as hell, and since I did grow up with GNR, it speaks to me. “Emily Kane” by Art Brut is good too, and painfully funny in a story-of-my-life sort of way.
One Day, Polly Paulusma. Terribly fun to sing along with in the car, if no one else is in it with you.
I like her other stuff too, but that song sticks with me.
James S: I like The Delgados very much, but true to the challenge, that particular song hadn’t stuck with me; “Accused of Stealing” and “Knowing When to Run” are ones I like from that album more.
I thought about The Indelicates Vladimir, but realized that it being a readily available track in last.fm might make it more well known that I’d normally guess.
“Photographs and Tickets” from The Loose Salute, though, is a song I imagine to be thouroughly obscure.
Scott, I’m really bad at recommending their songs. Theres only 1 song they ever wrote that I cant listen to forever until I die (Don’t Stop) so I basically just chose at random.
This was tough for me, because obviously I have a ton of favorite songs by bands from Dayton that nobody else would know (and NONE of them are GBV. That would require Pollard to actually write a SONG.)
As far a fave obscure music in semi-wide release, I’m going with Chumbawamba’s rendition of “Song on the Times,” originally written in the 1840s to protest England’s Corn Laws.
It’s on English Rebel Songs, an acapella record by an anarchist punk band, and that my friends should count for something. It was released in 1988, almost a decade before the drinking song that everyone knows them for these days. I bought it on vinyl when they played a little rental hall in Huber Heights, Ohio.
My husband is forbidden from playing this round, as his entire collection is obscure. In fact his favorite genre is “Previously Unreleased.”
Incidentally when I said “Who the hell is Ratcat?” he said “The band from Australia?”
You see what I’m up against.
James, I bet that all you really need to do is hand people a copy of Hate, which is hugely fantastic.
For a band that I’d probably recommend poorly, my favorite Pipettes tune (and I dislike not a one) is “Judy.” I never, ever hear people talk about that song.
“My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone)” by a Canadian band named Chilliwack. This was one of the first 45s I ever bought way back in the early ’80s. Still have the vinyl; a couple of years ago, after much searching, I finally tracked down a CD compilation that included it. It’s still dang catchy, if not quite the masterpiece my twelve-year-old self believed it to be…
“A Place Called Love” (intro and song) by Fleming and John. It’s on the album Delusions of Grandeur. Good stuff. :)
Oh man, if you want good, mostly not known over here 90’s Oz bands, the Clouds are right up there for me.
“Barmhjertige søstre“, a Norwegian cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Sisters of Mercy” by Sidsel Endresen. Also her cover of “You know who I am”.
I’ve probably never heard the original and don’t understand a word of this, but it’s gorgeous to hear.
Criminal Typewriters, by Dislocated Styles
You may hear it here.
“Virtual (Void)” by The Cotton Squares.
This is an especially geeky reference because The Cotton Squares were a group formed by employees of Be, Inc. (makers of BeOS) back when there was a Be, Inc. The song as well is pretty much geek through and through.
Rabbits in a basket, Figgy Duff.
In the tradition of wink wink nudge nudge read between the lines bawdy folk songs. If only I can make out what the hell she’s saying in the last verse through her Newfie accent.
Pagliaro: Lovin’ You Ain’t Easy — Québecois soft rock of the 70s.
Record Body Count by Rheostatics, yet another Canadian band that never really got traction across the border.
The Section Quartet’s version of “Teardrop”. Takes the original Massive Attack song (that serves as the theme of “House, M.D.”) and turns it into a rock ballad of delicate tenderness…. the change is marked, but then again, so are many things when remade with a string quartet focused on rock music.
Texas folk singer Nancy Griffith’s “Going back to Georgia” duet with Adam Duritz is awesome:
I’m gonna go with the Lucksmiths, an Australian band that everyone should adore as much as I do (but, inexplicably, they don’t). It’s tough to pick a song, but I’m going to go with “The Music From Next Door.” You can see them playing it live here. Their lead singer is also the drummer!
“I Do” by Ilaria Graziano, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex O.S.T. 2. I went to learn Italian just because of this song. Youtube link.
Glorybox by portishead (dummy albulm)
Heres a where are they now for ratcat, of you where interested
http://www.bmusic.com.au/links/whatsnew/newsletters/archives/newsno46.html#where
I have one obscure music obsession (mostly because I read entirely too much to be listening to music…): “Fashion Freak” by Naked Ape.
You can’t understand what they’re singing.
It’s repetitive.
It’s all 80’s-esque synth and vocoder-ness and…not really a good song at all. (Though it has that head-bob catchiness thing going on.)
…
But the video has a sexy zombie girl car wash. And a zombie chihuahua.
You can’t beat that with a stick.
See, I primarily listen to film scores, so there aren’t a lot of “songs” per se in that idiom. Jerry Goldsmith, for instance, wrote some amazing music, but his actual “songs” weren’t really the highlights. One of my favorite records of all time is the soundtrack to a pretty obscure movie called Promised Land with music by James Newton Howard. Crap, I could go on and on with stupid songs I love that no one’s heard of and no one would be interested in hearing them. So on a more mainstream-y note, I love love love Not My Slave by Oingo Boingo.
A bootleg cover of John Hiatt’s “Train to Birmingham’ by a fellow in Texas named Jason Boland. And for our northern neighbors, how about “Old Maid in the Garret” by Shanneyganock? As to how a boy in Philadelphia got a taste for Texas Red Dirt or Newfie music – thank you peer to peer file sharing networks.
While not a great masterpiece, my vote would have to go to “Da turdy point buck” by Bananas at Large. It’s one of the few examples of midwestern musical “humor” in the mid 90s. I don’t imagine too many people would know about it as it mostly stayed in the midwest, where it belonged.
something called “It’s OK 2 B Gay” by Tomboy. It’s on youtube, but I’ve never seen it anywhere else, which is a shame.
Oh, and in 2nd place- the remix of Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend” featuring Lil’ Mama. It PWNS. I’ve memorized it.
“Il Papa Sympatico” by Savage Republic. Tears me up every time.
Wendy Trilogy – by SJ Tucker
Great, now I’ve got that Nanci Griffith song stuck in my head. Think I’ll try to replace it with a song of hers that I love, “Flyer.”
“Hank’s Last Ride” by Mustng Lightning: drivin’ fast after midnight, headlights runnin’ off into moonlight, head full of pills, gut full of whiskey, feelin’ no pain, push down the gas pedal, turn up the radio.
was going to use #14, but got beat…..so how about Cock Robin “When Your Heart is Weak” …..never forgotten it and can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4JVUBXuVRA
They Might Be Midgets (formerly Amazing Larry and The Casio Quartet) with the song “Lovely Shade of Auburn”.
…yes….Midgets….
(Not “THE Amazing Larry” http://amazinglarry.ytmnd.com/, that’s a different guy altogether….)
OR…(and this one is the most disgusting love songs I’ve ever heard)
Anthrosaurus Tracks sings “Got Red for Her” (the insert for the CD has the song listed as this but the CD itself has it titled as “DimeBag’s Beard”. Both lines are used in the song so I don’t know which it is right…)
Oooh! Good question! Love Is the Law by Minneapolis new wave band the Suburbs. Also, “Over the Hillside” by The Blue Nile.
Rock and Roll Party in the Street by Axe, a 80s Southern Rock band
First, huge props to Transdutch — S.J. Tucker is wonderful, and has released two albums to accompany Catherynne Valente’s wonderful Orphan’s Tales books. She’s got a website at http://skinnywhitechick.com with samples and more.
As for my own nomination, I’d go with Brenda Kahn’s “I Don’t Sleep, I Drink Coffee Instead.” It’s a song (and a motto) that got me through college in the early ’90s.
Hater by Sunflower.
Face To Face by Garth Brooks
I was going through some tough times and was afraid to do what I had to do when this song came on. The line “Face to face with the devil you’ve been dreading” really stuck with me.
“A trip to morrow.” I have no idea who wrote it, but my grandfather used to sit on the porch and sing it to the accompaniment of his banjo. I heard it once on Captain Kangaroo.
England’s Glory by Max Wall, yes you would have to be old and English to get it but bet you havent heard it.
Adam,
Used to play Brenda’s song on the radio in college all of the time. Awesome song to be sure.
I would have to go with ‘Ponderous’ by 2nu. It was a one-hit pop tune from the early nineties. Second choice would be ‘Chinese Phrasebook’ by Freak Accident.
Another Australian band… “You Were There” by The Southern Sons, then again, probably every other Aussie I know knows it.
Same goes for Icehouse, pretty much every song on the “Man of Colors” album, tho again, any other Australian listening to music in the 80’s probably knows them.
“Heroes” by David & David; everyone remembers “Boomtown” from their only album, 1986’s Boomtown, but the whole album is great, especially that last track.
Lemme see, I think I’ll put Big City Stripper by Cory Morrow in the mix. Because who can’t relate to a romance w/ a ‘dancer’ that’s all in your head? Then you actually meet a couple outside the bar. I’m not saying that all of ’em are crazy, but I had one for a next door neighbor. Met a couple of her co-workers. Another friend had one for a roommate, met some of her co-workers. Ah, college. I’ll just say I came by my stereotyping honestly.
#12 Angelle, I am listing a Dayton band.
Frozen Feet – Momma, You Never Told Me.
http://iacmusic.com/songs.aspx?SongID=41996&ArtistID=65340
“Let it Ride” by Movie Star Kiss.
Adam,
I LOVE that Brenda Kahn record – I saw her at Canal Street Tavern in ’98 or 99, and she still ruled.
Steve,
I am impressed! I think I have some FF on a few local comp CDs. Actually, that’s the only thing I’m homesick for – bands like Shrug, Snake Oil, The American Static, and all the great singer-songwriters currently freezing their tookuses off back in Ohio.
“Beam me up, Scotty!” by Plan B, a German rock band
1. A great local band called The Martians, in particular, anything off of the “Green” album. “Garden” is one of my favorite, but you can’t go wrong with the whole thing.
Hereafter is mostly mainstream, but still not in general circulation
2. Social Distortion’s take on Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire”
3. Nazareth’s “Crazy (Suitable Case For Treatment)” and Black Sabbath’s “The Mob Rules” both of which are on the soundtrack to Heavy Metal, neither of which get enough airtime, even on XM.
4. W.A.S.P. “Blind in Texas” – just a rocking good time.
5. For serious hair-rock: Britney Fox “Long Way to Love” – forgotten screams soaring in the stratosphere.
This is kind of pathetic, but the only one I can think of is Blancmange’s cover of Abba’s “The Day Before You Came.” I heard it years before I heard the Abba original, which always sounds (unsurprisingly) like bad 70s bubblegum pop to me. The Blancmange version is considerably darker (it always, and more like bad 80s pop instead.
I just pulled up the video on YouTube and heard the song for the first time in 18 years. Ouch. But I still kind of like it. Here’s the link to the video.
“Charlton Heston” by Stump. http://tinyurl.com/2awz2b
Transvision Vamp – I Want Your Love
I was just reliving my youth the other day with CDs I got of local bands from my concert-going days. So this is a great question. My favorite little known (or even unknown) song is “Peter the Destroyer” by Floater, a psychedelic hardcore band out of Eugene, Oregon.
Video can be found here. God bless YouTube.
Kristina @54:
I owned that album in high school. Were they the first band to pick up on cyberpunk?
My song would be “Sandwich Time for the Smaller Children” by LMNOP.
Bryan Adams=”Back to You”
live in Chile for a little flair….
Original is on the “Unplugged” album. enjoy!
New album, “11”, dropping in six weeks!
Since I never have just one, here are three from possibly most obscure to least obscure:
The Endmen, What I Want (80’s indie, never on cd, thank god for usb turntables)
Rama & Bally Sagoo, Mera Laung Gawacha (bhangra reggae!)
Koko Taylor & Keb Mo, The Man Next Door (acoustic blues)
And if anyone can find any of these on youtube or something, that would be cool.
“Roses” by a German band named RPWL. (web site rpwl.de). Vocals are by a fellow named Ray Wilson, who was front man for Genesis after Phil Collins.
On the album “World Through My Eyes”. I’ve never met anyone who had ever heard of the band, much less the song.
“King of Spain” by Moxy Fruvous
Nice little fan video here:
“A little Hungover You” by Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers
“Torn” by a band called Ednaswap. The song was written by the lead singer – Anne Previn. Then Natalie Imbruglia went and ruined it.
Jasper McVain’s “Revv Me Up”
for current local Mpls musicians, I really like Charlie Parr, who sounds like he could be a folkie from the 20s, or 60s, or (what he really is) now. “Reverend Eviction’s Blues” or “Jefferson Street Express” are great songs off his King Earl album. Also, a bunch of fresh-faced youths who may be going places play in a band called White Light Riot. “Atomism” is a great song off their album of the same name. I hope they don’t get brought down by drugs, dames, or dinosaur attacks.
Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials – You just weren’t there
Songs: Ohia – Nervous Bride
Mark Knopfler – Silvertown Blues
Patti Smith – Dancing barefoot
Pete Townsend – My baby gives it away
Clem Snide – Woke up to the sound of German hip-hop
I don’t really know any obscure bands. The closest might be the song “What do All the People Know” by The Monroes. It was very popular when i was in 8th grade in the early 1980s, but then the band’s record company went bankrupt and the rights to the song got tied up in the bankruptcy proceedings and the record became hard to find, although in recent years the song has been showing up on various best of the 80s compilation cds.
I also really like “Into the Morning” by the Weekend from the Beatbox My Heart album, but I don’t think they’re particularly obscure either, I just think it’s a band most of my friends don’t listen to.
I’m guessing any band solely released on Hyde Park Records is cheating, so I’m going with…
“Al Gore”, by Monkey Bowl. Yes, even though an article about it was written in the New Yorker.
Royksopp – “Remind Me”
The song was redone and backed up the Geico caveman airport commercial. But the original (which has a different sound than the commercialized version) is excellent, and the video is fantastic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBvaHZIrt0o
I’ve always liked “Lilly the Pink” by the Irish Rovers.
Unfocused @52 I loved that Blancmange song, too. Very dark and odd, but poignant.
Before Polaris and Mark Mulcahy solo, there was a band called Miracle Legion. And before their albums, there was a little EP I was compelled to special order based on a two-sentence blurb in the local music monthly. Score! My favorite song on it was The Heart is Attached, and my copy’s been gone for years and my turntable bit the dust, so it lives in my head. I can hear the chorus now…
“Charm”, by the (defunct) Austin, TX band _Shoulders_.
Oh, almost forgot Flogging Molly “What’s Left of the Flag” which can be watched here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=KPYLxF6Jgc0
Whole Lotta José
The Ditty Twisters
love
Well someone else has already mentioned one song from my favorite band. Oingo Boingo. Lots of people have heard Deadmans Party and (sigh) Weird Science. But I don’t think most know of the depth of this band. So I would recomend they go clear back to their first EP and check out Ain’t This The Life.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4439472714575407717&q=Violent+Love&total=1258&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1
A slighly more obscure suggestion would be The Dead Kennedy’s California Uber Alles.
Although I do see the occasional retro punk rocker sporting tee’s with their logo so it may not be all that obscure.
PS I suspect I might be old. Both sugestions are over 25 years old. Yikes.
Either “The Boy with the Violin” or “Guinevere’s Tune” by Buskin and Batteau, a great folkie duo from the 80s.
Also “I Never Knew,” by the Longbeds (headed by Michael Perry, a wonderful author from northern Wisconsin).
And props to Luis at #60 – Moxy Fruvous’ “King of Spain” is the most damnably catchy song I’ve ever heard. Now I’ll have it in my head for the rest of the day. Thanks! I think!
Attic Window by Idgy Vaughn
Man of the World by the original Fleetwood Mac. Simply the saddest song ever recorded.
Glad to see the John Hiatt love. Also being a Canuck glad to see the “HIP!” is already mentioned. My personal candidate would be “White Lies ” by Jason and the Scorchers. That song never fails to put me in a good mood. I have never met anyone who has their records.
“Liechtenstein” by Zircus (sound clip at Amazon). (Or, to be REALLY sure no one else knows it: “Girl Songs” by Wonderboy – that was on an album that never even got released.)
What, it’s cheating to name a band that was on your own obscure indie record label?
Sigh. Okay: “Jerusalem” by Holcombe Waller, which contains the phrase “the earth’s secret spheroid lie”, which I love.
Wow. Another Ratcat fan!
I can’t pick just one, so a few:
A House, “Snowball Down”
Blue Angels, “Candy”
Azure Days, “Anything For You”
And for the Aussies…
Beatfish, “Love In Vain”
“Sea of Lies”, or really anything by Lord Groovy and the Psychodelic Zombiez from their “An Evening At The Zoo” album. Got it from a friend in grad school. Fantastic horn-driven funk.
jason@14 – soemone else has heard of Chilliwack? My favorite is “Arms of Mary” from the LP “Lights from the Valley”.
Two others are “Victory Line” by limited warranty a late 80’s group from Minneapolis, and “Big Fat Fun” from the CD “call me bwana” by the on-again/off-again San Francisco band pigs in a blanket.
I have two. One I’m sure at least SOME people here have heard of, the other I doubt many have, if any.
1. Dr. Jones – Aqua
I never said I had good taste, did I? I have a music video in my head to this song. Mmm, murder. Though I do love Aqua music. They may have only done love songs, but at least they were interesting love songs with stories.
2 Samurai Heart – AAA
Aka Attack All Around. They’re a Japanese group who preforms awesome moves on stage, but always make it so that the people singing do less so they can, y’know, actually SING. Unlike those crazy people who say screw it, we’d rather do awesome moves and lipsynch (*coughboybandseverywherecough*)
“Andy” by Les Rita Mitsouko
And something that I think was called “Ride with Me” by The Collective. Heard it a couple of times on the radio in South Africa, very catchy somehow, never found a trace of it since.
# JJS Says:
“A trip to morrow.” I have no idea who wrote it,
Either Kingston or Chad Mitchell Trio sang it.
My obscure favorite: The Microorganism by Boiled in Lead. It’s a masterfully written song.
Okay, as all of these are on YouTube, at least a few others have heard of them, but I’d still argue that they’re not well-known any more:
Shadowfax’s ‘Shadowdance’ (from a very brief New Age kick in the early 80s)
Planet P Project’s ‘Why Me?’
Jane Child’s ‘Don’t Want To Fall In Love’
Amazulu’s cover of ‘Montego Bay’ and ‘Too Good To Be Forgotten’
Premiata Forneria Marconi – Impressioni di settembre
Maybe it’s not so unknown, however.
MaryL : HUGE Rheostatics fan myself, seen them lots of times, named our oldest daughter after one of their songs — RBC got a lot of airplay, though, don’t know if it’d count as obscure.
I’m gonna go with another ABBA cover, a Canadian band called The Pursuit of Happiness does “On and On and On”. At least, I’ve heard it exactly once on late night CBC, haven’t ever been able to track it down since then.
Obscurantism isn’t just a hobby — it’s a way of life.
A few samples, in no particular order:
Ryan Adcock — “Kid Icarus”
Renaissance — “Things I Don’t Understand”
Lucy Kaplansky (cover) — “(What’s So Funny About) Peace, Love, and Understanding” (quasibluegrass)
Tom Landa & the Paperboys (cover) — “All Around the Watchtower” (bluegrass-rock)
Peter Mulvey — “Smell the Future”
Richard Shindell (cover) — “Darkness Darkness” (sounds like it belongs on the Firefly soundtrack)
Michael Jerling — “Long Black Wall”
Claudia Schmidt — “Remember”
Mick Moloney — “There Were Roses”
Three City Four — “History Lesson”
Brian Auger and Oblivion Express — “Change”
October Project — “Ariel”
Monica Schroeder — “Poison” (although I know that Scalzi has heard of this one, so maybe it shouldn’t count?)
Monk — “Dover Beach”
And that’s just the stuff in the current playlist…
Damn–I started looking up Dead Milkmen lyrics trying to pick a favorite, but could not:
http://www.actionext.com/names_t/the_dead_milkmen_lyrics/my_many_smells.html
They are all beautiful and Philadelphian and strange. But my favorite album of theirs was Beelzebubba–Stuart, RC’s Mom, Sri Lanka Sex motel, it’s hard to go wrong. I got my first Dead Milkmen tape (“You’ll Dance to Anything”, single) in like, 1989 along with Edgar Winter’s Mission Earth soundtrack while banging around Center City the day after the prom. (“They call me Bang Bang–bang bang bang I blow up cars.”–Only thing I remember from the tape–I may still have it. I know I don’t have the Mission Earth books anymore…) I was moved to acquire more Dead Milkmen. I was not moved to acquire more Edgar Winter.
(A world where ministers murder golf pros? Bleach Boys . Genius.)
Chuk, I think the Rheos are pretty obscure to most Americans (but say hi to Claire for me :-)
Damn. Going through YouTube, I saw that they played their last show at Massey Hall just two days before my husband and I split last spring. We’d been to our share of NY Eve week shows at the Horseshoe, so that really was an unexpected pang.
Telescope by Lagoona, formerly known as T.S.E.C. (The Solid Energy Core).
I’m also quite fond of Tenth Man Down by Nightwish.
Good song by an obscure band?
Mary O’Meara (lyrics by Poul Anderson, Music by Anne Pasavoy) as performed by Windbourne (Google).
Obscure song by a good band?
The Moody Blues, Veteran Cosmic Rocker
Good to see the Dead Milkmen get shout-out – my fave was Elvis is Everywhere.
I’ll add the immortal ‘Energy in Northampton’ by Northampton Development Corporation. Performed by Linda Jardim.
“A ditty based on the premise that a damaged space ship feel to Earth, and needing somewhere to repair, decided Northampton was the ideal spot.”
and King Missile’s Detachable Penis:
For desert, try ‘Hocus Pocus’ by Focus, live in 1973:
Ballad of Glencoe, by Alastair MacDonald (Scottish folk)
Beautiful Disaster, Jon McLaughlin
Grace’s Waltz, Fernando Ortega (one of the only instrumental pieces I actually like)
Anita’s Heart, Fernando Ortega
Sometimes Love, Chris Rice
“The Cold Song” by Klaus Nomi
I’m not sure how obscure Chris Whitley is. I know I only discovered him in the past year. Unfortunately, he died in 2005. But the song “Accordingly” from the album Dirt Floor stuck with me for months.
Tell me All the Things You Do, Fleetwood Mac, Kiln House. Almost an instrumental and incredibly catchy.
and another obscure band with a briefly catchy tune….British Columbia’s own Doug & the Slugs with Too Bad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzocrN1zUE8
“The Day Ted Nugent Killed All the Animals” by Wally Pleasant
“one” by That1Guy (video here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=war8M_JHa0I )
Probably not obscure enough, but “They Moved The Moon” by Warren Zevon, on his cyberpunk concept album “Transverse City”. He’s pretty well-known, obviously, but this one wasn’t exactly a chart-topper.
The BEST is the 50s Bollywood tune Mera Naam Chin Chin Choo. The video has some wonderful dancing, and I defy anyone’s toes to not immediately begin tapping:
White-guy Skeptical Science-nerd rap: MC900 Foot Jesus’ “Truth Is Out of Style”:
http://www.theendoftheworld.org/900/truth.shtml
Best music from a TV show everyone’s forgotten, The Theme from UFO, a sci-fi series set in the distant future year of 1980:
Best song that you’ll wish you’ve never heard–it makes Shatner’s version of “Lucy in the Skies” seem like a masterpiece–Patrick MacNee and Honor Blackman of the BBC series “The Avengers” and a tale of the mid-60s British boot crisis:
http://home.fhtw-berlin.de/~s0258364/media/mp3/Honor_Blackman_&_Patrick_Macnee_-_Kinky_Boots.mp3
“Paper Boats” by Kat Eggleston
Just amazing.
JJS at #41 – “To Morrow” was written by The Kingston Trio. My Dad sang it so often I can still do the whole thing by heart. Nice rendition of it on Best of the Muppets.
Hmm… I’ll serve up a few:
“Lonely Time”, by blues wizard Chris Smither, off his perfect album, _Another Way to Find You_. I searched for that damn song for 14 years after hearing it once on the radio. Found it, though. The rest of the album is even better. It is, of course, out of print.
” Nitro”, from Dick Dale’s 1993 _Tribal Thunder_ . He’s still rocking hard and fast. I should only look so good at his age.
“Playhouse of the Universe” by The Wild Band of Snee. Rushad Eggleston, demon cellist. Off an untitled album they sold the last time they played Club Passim.
“Through the Monsoon” by Tokio Hotel. Speaking of pretty, they’re German teenagers who are beyond pretty, and very emo. Great song, though I like the German version better than the English.
This one, by someone you never heard of but should.
Another one that other Australians have probably heard of, and overseas folk probably not: “Man Overboard” by Do Re Mi.
The YouTube version sounds like it was recorded off a TV, so the sound isn’t the absolute best, but it’s worth listening to the words. It’s got unusually dense and complex lyrics, which I love in songs and particularly loved in that one.
That Neil Guy: I love the Flint soundtracks by Jerry Goldsmith.
Sylvia Sotomayor: I love Bally Sagoo although I don’t know the specific song you mentioned.
Scott: I love Royksopp!
My choices:
“You’re My Drug” The Dukes of Stratosphear
“Oh Dear, Dear Deirdre, Oh Dearie” The Wonder Stuff
“Get Paid” Rhythm King And Her Friends
“Let’s Put Out the Lights (And Go to Sleep)” Ben Bernie
“Chicas Patas Boogie” Lalo Guerrero
The Fabulous Poodles
T-Model Ford – Bad Man
Super Chikan – El Camino
Junior Kimbrough – Meet Me in the City
The Black Keys – Strange Desire
anything by RL Burnside, and anything on Fat Possum Records
Horseflies
Broadside Electric
“Heavenly Pop Hit” and “Tied Up in Chains” by The Chills
“Death and the Maiden”, The Verlaines
Several songs by the German duo Modern Talking, who were hugely popular in Russia in mid-80’s. Say, this one:
Several songs by the German duo Modern Talking, who were hugely popular in Russia in mid-80’s. Say, this one:
(sorry, not sure what happened to the link)
Any of “Perfect Day”, “Even Without”, “You Look Too Happy” (sample here), “It’s a Lie”, or “I Could Hate The World” by Inside Out.
Somewhat less obscure: “Personality Crisis” by the New York Dolls, or “C’est La Vie” by The Fabulous Poodles (Thor @107 beat me to it).
*cues up “C’est La Vie” and cranks it up to 11*
*beaten to death by angry superb owl-viewing mob*
“shadow of a cross” by shades apart. yeah, you might have heard of the band, but most people have never heard of the album this song came from. well, maybe some.
Patrick at 101 – Transverse City is a great album. I am particularly prone to start singing the chorus of “Down at the Mall” at random, which causes my wife to look at me with grave concern.
I don’t know how obscure this song is – but Cat Steven’s “Father and Son” hit me pretty hard when it came out. I was in high school. Now that I have sons of my own that age, and my dear Dad is gone, it hits me harder than ever:
Father and Son
Everyone needs to visit Fat Possum Records.
Here is mine Khemchim by YAT-KHA.
“Muddy Waters” (the song, not the singer) by Phil Rosenthal, performed by bluegrass band the Seldom Scene. Hauntingly beautiful and timeless, as true for Katrina now as it was for the Johnstown flood when it was written.
Elvis is Everywhere is by Mojo Nixon.
I pretty much love everything by him when he was with Skid Roper, but one of my favorites is Are You Drinking With Me Jesus, in which he asks the question “I know You can walk on water, but can You walk on this much beer?”
Other faves;
Planet P – Armageddon
Pop Will Eat Itself (aka: PWEI) – Sixteen Different Flavors of Hell
Manowar – The Crown and the Ring
Fuzzbox – XXSex
MicroChip League (aka: MCL) – New York, New York
I’m sure there’s more.
I think I have to go with “Noah’s New Ark,” or perhaps “Stephen’s Exhibition,” from Stuart Davis’ incredible album Nomen Est Numen.
And a hearty second for October Project.
I would go with the Gereldine Fibbers cover of Fancy. The anger and defiance that come through is amazing
“Life Stepped In”, Amy X. Neuberg: Totally amazing. Even more amazing performed live.
“Thank You (Dziekuje)”, Dave Brubeck: Possibly the ultimate piano solo ever.
“The First Circle”, Pat Metheny: The most uplifting piece of music I know.
“Somewhere in America There’s a Street Named After My Dad”, Was (Not Was): Both sides of the American Dream at once.
“Beauty in the Beast”, Wendy Carlos: Haunting and unlike anything else ever.
Soho – Hippychick
Material Issue – Valerie Loves Me
Ass Ponys – Earth to Grandma