funoka

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Hot, Sexy, and Dead: Gene Clark’s No Other

Posted by funoka

Jan 282014

I was a little surprised to read that Gene Clark seems to be a touchstone for indie bands — and this Beach House-led tour and No Other revival is getting pretty good reviews. I had never listened to No Other, so I gave it a good spin over the weekend. For me, it was an ideal album to listen to on a cold, grey winter day when a sick kid means you are canceling all plans and staying home.

It is like listening to an album I’ve heard before, but never heard, if that makes any sense. The backstory is interesting — and I guess No Other is among the pantheon of great “lost” rock albums.

What do you think? Have you heard No Other…and is it a great lost rock album?

Long, Long Songs

Posted by funoka

Dec 242013

I was adding Kurt Vile‘s “Walking On A Pretty Daze” to my “most played” 2013 playlist the other day and realized it’s by far the longest song to make the cut. If you haven’t heard it — it comes in at about 9 and half minutes or so. I used to routinely put longer songs on mix tapes and CDs, but in the age of iTunes and eMusic, I’ve been doing less of it.

One my favorite Zep songs is “Achilles Last Stand,” at 10-plus minutes, Derek and Dominos have “Layla ” at 7:05 and a version of “Key to Highway” at 10 minutes and change. Lots of prog rock bands have album cuts that take up a side or most of a side of an LP. What is the cream of that crop? I thought The Clash put some long ones on Sandinsta!, but looking back, nothing over 6 minutes — for some reason I thought “The Call Up” and “Charlie Don’t Surf” were really long, but they probably just seemed long to me because of all 2 minute songs I was listening to at the time.

Anyway — what are some of your favorite longer tracks — just to be arbitrary — clocking in at 7-plus minutes?

Rock Photography: It Don’t Come Easy

Posted by funoka

Nov 182013

A couple of things regarding rock photography caught my eye last week. First somebody sent me a link to this little story on Dan Corrigan, the house photographer at my favorite rock club, First Avenue in Minneapolis. He’s also known as the photographer for the cover of the Replacements album, Let it Be.

In the video, Dan talks about his strategies to get good photos at shows and the trials of the digital age. I’m not immune to the temptations of taking a photo at a show now and then, but some people really go over overboard.

The other thing that somebody sent me was this treasury of bad indie rock band pix.

I’ve had a (very) small amount of photos published over the years, so I know how hard it is to get a good shot. My rock photos are almost uniformly bad.

My questions to you: Have you ever snapped a good rock photo? And if so, can you put a link in the comments?

How Great Is David Bowie?

Posted by funoka

Nov 022013

I’ve been listening to the David Bowie channel on Sirius/XM radio and it is flat out fantastic. Crazy old stuff, the hits, and covers by others. It’s great to have someone else curate one of your heroes, so to speak.

What’s great about Bowie is that everyone has a favorite album — and you can say — “well I can see that.” Mine is Lodger, only because I was a teenager when it came out and it didn’t get played on the radio — so it’s mine.

So, what is your favorite Bowie album . . . and why?

“Lost” Albums

Posted by funoka

Oct 222013

Patty Griffin’s 2000 album Silver Bell finally got a proper release this year — many of the songs had been kicking around on other albums and covered by other artists — most notably the Dixie Chicks. Natalie Maines put the title track on her solo album this year. I’ve kind of been wearing it out the last couple of weeks. I don’t why A&M finally put it out now…evidently it had reached “lost” album status in Americana circles. Being Robert Plant’s girlfriend can’t hurt either.

“Silver Bell” and the fact that I finally finished Pete Townshend’s autobiography, where he spends a lot of time writing about the Lifehouse sessions, got me thinking about “lost” albums. As a kid, and Who obsessive for a while, I was happy to find remnants on Who Came First in the cutouts. I always really liked “Pure and Easy” and “(Nothing is Everything) Let’s See Action.” I had not listened to “Pure and Easy” for 20 years — to my ears, it’s pretty good and far superior to the Who version on “Odds & Sods.” I think it would be cool if Pete could stitch together a Lifehouse release like Brian Wilson did for Smile.

What “lost albums” are worth the time to dig up in your book?

Lyrical Touchstones

Posted by funoka

Sep 242013

My 6-year-old son asked me the other day, Why you do always call me “little friend?”

Well — here’s the answer, my little friend.

Another one that I share with my brothers is the phrase “New Kid in Town” — if you don’t want to hear about something — there’s “a new kid in town.” As in “I don’t wanna hear it…”

What lyrics do you throw out there on a regular basis in various situations?

Replacements Fever — Catch It!

Posted by funoka

Aug 242013

The Replacements play their first “reunion” gig in Toronto at Riot Fest this weekend — and it’s creating quite a stir, back in the Twin Cities at least. They close the show Sunday, right after Iggy and the Stooges. There will be lots of press coverage in the Twin Cities media as Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson strap it up — no Chris Mars, though, and Slim Dunlap has big health issues.

So to prepare: There’s this nice “Meet the Replacements Family” chart that a local station cooked up.

How about this rendering of the Let It Be cover (shot on the Stinson’s roof) recreated in Legos? Nice!

Wish I could be there — but it’s a good thing I’m not going — I have the mother of all summer colds and am just getting it back together after a week of laying low.

From where I’m coming from this is an event show — where I would consider traveling to make it. What say you? — in the spirit of an earlier post — is this a ‘why bother’ event or a real event?

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