Leave the Poetry to the Pros

I'm a proud father. My not-yet-three-year-old son H was on my lap last week when he got a ponderous look on his face. He cocked his head and looked toward the ceiling for a couple seconds. Then he looked at me and spoke:
"Birthday star, sunshine eyes."

A poem. I believe it's his first.

Today's Friday 10 is in Iambic Pentameter.

01 A Long Way From Home - The Kinks: From one of my top three all-time favorite Kinks albums, Lola Versus The Powerman and the Moneygoround. The last time I had a Kinks track come up on one of these Friday 10s, I wrote, sincerely, about how much better than the Beatles they are (and always have been). I thought for sure that would stir a little bile from the Beatles fans among you. Nothing. Nary a comment about how John and Paul invented the modern day pop song or any of that nonsense usually spouted as if it were fact. (Or even provable!) So today, I'm trying a different approach, just a little poke in your bread oven to see if you're still with me: The Kinks are better than you.

02 Wasserturm - Einstürzende Neubauten: This was a bonus track on the re-released version of Drawings of Patient O.T. The Neubauten guys play a water tower on this song, behind lyrics that Blixa Bargeld has said were inspired by a dream he once had, in which he was hammering spaghetti and music came out. I like all the Neubauten stuff, but Kollaps and O.T. are the serious business.
Impertinent Personal Info Dept.: When I go to have baby W's name and birthdate tattooed below his brother's on my leg, I'm going to stay in the chair for the EN logo. Don't yet know on which patch of skin, though.

03 Suzie is a Floozie - The Lurkers: I miss the Lurkers... I haven't listened to God's Lonely Men in more than five days!

04 Smothered - Die Cheerleader: It's a crime that the Son of Filth album is out of print, and a shame that so few rock fans have ever heard about this great band. Three gals, with a guy on drums. The lead singer, Miss Sam Ireland, has one of the most powerful voices you'll ever hear. Die Cheerleader is melodic and solid like Jane's Addiction was melodic and solid. Get it? If you find Son of Filth around -- eBay, GEMM, etc. -- grab a copy. (I just checked Amazon... you can find it used, starting at .01. Easily worth 2,000 times that!)

05 Mony Mony - Tommy James & The Shondells: I don't know too much about TJ, but I've always loved his songs. At first, they'd show up on comps that I'd buy, and ultimately I went and tracked down a few solid TJ&tS records. (Crimson & Clover is packed with great songs, and it's not even a greatest hits.) You can sneeze into the H-I-J section at any CD store and soak about 25 disks that have "Mony Mony" on them. There was, of course, that well-known version by the guy from Generation X, and another cool one by The Stranglers backing up Celia and the Mutations.

06 London Dungeon - Misfits: From the very hard-to-find Misfits album 12 Hits From Hell. The record was recorded at Master Sound Productions in NYC on 08-07-80, and was original known as the MSP Demos. They were demos for what became the Walk Among Us LP. The 12 Hits tracks were remixed in July 2001 for release on Caroline Records that October. Just before it was about to hit stores, the band had a change of heart and pulled it. (There are too many reasons floating around and no real answers why.) A very few promo copies had already made it out into the real world, and it's from these promos that lucky collectors have shared the wealth. If this thing ever landed in the bins, it would have made a lot of Misfits fans awfully happy. (I'm sure some band members are seething over the existence of this CD. I've written before about how common it is for Cease & Desist letters to land in the hands of eBay execs every time some cool and rare Misfits product is on their site.) There are some amazing tracks on 12 Hits From Hell. You know all the titles, as they've all found release on other records and singles, but these are all significantly different mixes, and in most cases they're better than the ones we already know and love. One interesting thing to note about these 12 Hits recordings is that original guitarist Bobby Steele was kicked out of the band during these sessions, but after he'd recorded all the guitar parts. Then Doyle, Jerry Only's brother, joined the band and added additional guitars. So what you have here is a document of a five-piece Misfits lineup that never actually played together. You can read boatload of information on this rarity at this URL. And here. Today I heard "London Dungeon" from 12 Hits. I have a playlist on iTunes that I built so that I can listen to the original version of the songs followed by the 12 Hits version; I like to A-B them like that to hear the differences. "Dungeon" is a truly stellar song, proof that Danzig could hang with the best American songwriters, and the arrangement is so pure. The original, single mix of the song used to annoy me a bit, though, in that the vocal always sounded like they were shot through a tube, compressed to high heaven. The 12 Hits mix is far superior. (But you knew I'd say that.) The vocal is warmer and has its midrange back. The drum sound is much fuller and wider, with the snare nestled nicely inside the pocket.
Talk About Hi Tek Dept.: I finally got my hands on a vinyl copy last fall. I went upstairs to Stereo Mike's apartment and ran the turntable through a mixer and into his computer, where we ripped WAV files. We burned the WAVs onto a DVD, and I ripped those files off the DVD, through the Audacity software (minus EQ) and outputted them to MP3s and into iTunes, where I later burned off an audio CD. Caveman style and clunky, but hey -- at least I've got the thing!)

07 12XU - Minor Threat: I love it when one band I love covers a great song by another band I love -- and does it SO well. It happened right here, with Minor Threat's pass at the classic Wire song from Pink Flag. I'm not a huge fan of cover songs, especially when they tend to be more of a one-off novelty than anything else, but when all the parts are in place, it's fucking magical. It's Minor Threat paying great homage to the masters. Of course it's on the Complete Discography.

08 Raisans - Dinosaur Jr.: The You're Living All Over Me album came out in '87, and if put your ear to it today, it still sounds so fucking cool. What a mix -- it's frightening, the sounds coming off those songs. "Raisans" is great, as is "Tarpit," but "Little Fury Things" is unmatched, I think.

09 Sex and Dying in High Society - X: The three X shows I caught last year were three highlights for me. They landed on those shows like a ton of bricks. Amazing! This phenomenal song is from the must-have sonic bible, Los Angeles.

10 Down on the Street - Stooges: Did you know that the original version Iggy wrote was called "Down on the Beach"? The first line, "Down on the beach where the faces shine" makes a lot more sense knowing that. You all know this is from Fun House, another essential record if you're thinking about calling yourself a music fan.

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Now you: Put your mp3 player or digital jukebox on "shuffle all songs," and let us know the first ten random songs out the chute.

[posted with ecto]

Comments

[Tim]

You have a copy of "12 Hits From Hell?"
Damn.
You know my address!

[the mrs.]

1. older chests-damien rice
2. le soleil est pres de moi-air
3. the district sleeps alone-the postal service
4. the prettiest thing-norah jones
5. 1995-luna
6. galapogos-the smashing pumpkins
7. sweet thing-van morrison
8. would-alice in chains
9. take it easy (love nothing)-bright eyes
10. conduit for sale!-pavement

[Nick]

1.We'll never sleep) (God knows we'll try)-Rilo Kiley
2 I'm a drifter- Johnny Cash
3. Nothing in this world can stop me from worryin' 'bout you- The Kinks
4. Club Foot- Kasabian
5. Proud Mary- CCR
6. Worked up so sexual- The Faint
7. Airbag- Radiohead
8. Love my way- The Psychadelic Furs
9. The myth of trust- Billy Bragg
10. Birds and ships- Billy Bragg and Wilco

[Brian]

How can you possibly say the Kinks are better than I am? I invented the modern day pop song!

[Brian]

1) Magic - The Cars
2) Summertime Rolls - Jane's Addiction
3) Everlasting Love - U2
4) Seattle - Public Image Ltd
5) Who Are You - The Who
6) Anything She Does - Genesis
7) Hump de Bump - Red Hot Chili Peppers
8) Rent - Original Broadway Cast
9) Swamp - Talking Heads
10) Sleeping Bear, Sault Saint Marie - Sufjan Stevens