RTH Glossary

Does Tom Waits’ Performance in Down By Law Overshadow His Entire Musical Output? (And Room for a Discussion on “Tuxedo” vs “Coffee Table” Albums)

Jul 222011

I’ve got a much bigger fish to fry later today, but to get things rolling I’ve been chewing on the following thought: Does Tom Waits‘ performance in Jim Jarmusch‘s Down By Law overshadow his entire musical output?

To be clear, I own and enjoy 5 Waits albums: The trio of “junkyard” albums that first caught my attention in the mid-’80s, Rain Dogs, Swordfishtrombones, and Frank’s Wild Years, and then 2 earlier albums that an old friend taped me after I’d finally given this artist the time of day, The Heart of Saturday Night and Nighthawks at the Diner. Oh, I also own the live album that came out last year, Glitter and Doom Live. There’s much I dig in Waits’ music and lyrics, even though his hobo hipster delivery are a bit too much for me to take on a regular basis. I consider his albums Tuxedo Albums, that is, classy, intelligent albums I can pull out once a year for a special occasion.

Unlike a Coffee Table Album (eg, any box set of an artist performing in a genre I typically don’t care about but feel I can cover in one broad stroke, such as the Patsy Cline box set I bought years ago to get my wife and all other country music fans off my back) or an Olive Branch Album (ie, my RTH-approved Jackson Browne album, Late for the Sky), both of which are meant to advertise my musical depth, diversity, tolerance, and whatnot, my Tom Waits Tuxedo Albums make me feel really good about myself whenever I need to “clean up” and pop one on my turntable. I’m sure I’ve got a few friends and acquaintences who think better of me for having seen me in the light of the album-closing version of “Innocent When You Dream.”

However, for all his fine musical tailoring, Waits’ music feels intellectually dishonest and showy. His performance in Down By Law, on the other hand, is One From the Heart, to quote the title of a Copola movie he worked on. My eyes are flooded with tears of laughter any time Waits appears in that movie. I’ve never gotten half that meaningful an emotion out of a single Waits song, but man can that guy play his role in Down By Law!

It’s a shame. Tom Waits has done a lot of quality music—and I know people who’ve traveled to East Jabip to see one of his rare live performances—but I don’t know if he can ever top his role in Down By Law. Maybe he’s been in the wrong business all these years. What do you think?

RTH Glossary Update: Hershey Squirting Finally Defined and Ready for Usage

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jul 122011

The following Glossary term was submitted by Rock Town Hall’s favorite Dylanologist, E. Pluribus Gergely.

Hershey Squirting: An artist’s continual release of uninspired singles and LPs that do nothing but soil a back catalog of solid work

Now that that’s taken care of, I’d like all RTHers to carefully examine the catalogs of our beloved heroes to determine which artist has done the most Hershey squirting. To qualify for the designation, the artist in question has to have a back catalog of some merit. In other words, choosing someone like The Replacements or Tom Petty is totally unacceptable.

My choice, and I defy and RTHer to come up with a more deserving nominee, is Bob Dylan. Bob’s Hershey squiriting started right after Desire and hasn’t shown any sign of abating. Dylan diehards stand tall and firm behind the so called nuggets found on Infidels, Empire Burlesque, Time Out of Mind, etc., claiming that the deep trax on the noted long players are every bit as good as the stuff found on the holy trinity of Dylan’s first three electric LPs. That is simply not true. Ever take one of those nasty penicillin influenced dumps that make you gag while you’re wiping your hiny? If so, then you know what I think of tunes like “Tight Connection to My Heart.” There isn’t a single Dylan number recorded after Desire that even comes close to the dartboard of the electric trinity’s snoozers, to something like Blonde on Blonde‘s “Temporary Like Achilles.” The post-Desire slop is lyrically, structurally, melodically, instrumentally, and sonically chronically inferior to anything pre-Desire. Continue reading »

Rock Town Hall: The John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers of Rock Blogging

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jul 082011

I’m not one to toot my own horn, but for the benefit of all of us who take part in making Rock Town Hall the joyous time-wasting, truth-telling music-discussion blog that it is, I feel it necessary to claim appropriate credit for our collective role in encouraging spirited, personal rock blogging and other online communications. I feel it necessary to make the claim, since no other media outlets are doing so, that Rock Town Hall Is the John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers of Rock Blogging.

Rock Town Hall’s Saturday Night Shut-In: Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda-Been Classic Rock

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jun 042011

Sounds of the Hall in roughly 33 1/3 minutes!

In this evening’s edition of Saturday Night Shut-In, in the hour leading up to tonight’s Sausages for Sammy Extravaganza and Classic Rock Psychic Rock Block Event, Mr. Moderator plays a mix of Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda-Been Classic Rock contenders! At the end of this episode he will reveal the identity of our latest Mystery Guest!

These are songs you almost certainly are not going to hear during tonight’s 20-minute rock block on a Classic Rock Station to be announced. Crack open a cold one, fire up your grill, and listen along, won’t you?

[audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/RTH-Saturday-Night-Shut-In-31.mp3|titles=RTH Saturday Night Shut-In, episode 31]

[Note: The Rock Town Hall feed will enable you to easily download Saturday Night Shut-In episodes to your digital music player. In fact, you can even set your iTunes to search for an automatic download of each week’s podcast.]

Listen But Don’t Look: Leo Sayer

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jun 032011

Close your eyes...

Remember BigSteve‘s Listen But Don’t Look Principle? It’s an official Rock Town Hall Glossary term, if you ever need to cite it in your own works of rock criticism, but I was reminded of it tonight, when I went searching for some vintage Leo Sayer videos—solely for the purpose, or so I thought, of laughing at how the guy looked!

I found the following clip and expected a hearty belly laugh:

RTH Mailbag: Josh Wilker of Cardboard Gods Accepts His RTH Pince Nez

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Apr 072011

The Rock Town Hall Mailbag has been left unattended for too long, but following are a few messages of particular interest.

Josh Wilker, author of Cardboard Gods, who recently took time to chat with us about baseball cards and rock ‘n roll, took to heart a Townsperson’s subsequent pince nez regarding a reference to “the first album by the Band” when Wilker obviously meant to refer to their second album! He wrote me offlist and asked that I share his mea culpa.

Man, I cannot believe I referred in the interview to the Band’s second album as “the first album by the Band.” I deserve to be, to quote a line from the actual first album, “tarred and feathered.” It is a deeply troubling comment on my frazzled mental state and deteriorating cognitive faculties that I would make this mistake. I don’t know why it happened. I must be turning much sooner than scheduled into a version of my beloved grandfather near his end, when he walked into rooms carrying his oxygen tank and, with widening eyes, said, “Now, damnit, why in the Sam Hill did I come in here?” I am a huge fan of The Band, who have been an intimate part of my life since even before I collected baseball cards. I’ve leaned on their music all my life, read whatever I can get my hands on about them (“Across the Great Divide” and “This Wheel’s on Fire” and “Invisible Republic”), had the luck to see Garth Hudson play at the Bottom Line, detoured on a rare trip back east to try to see Levon in his Midnight Ramble (it got cancelled at the last minute, unfortunately), blah blah blah—and now I realize I’m sounding even more like some blowhard poser trying to defend his legitimacy. Fuck! It is as if I misspelled Yastrzemski. I can’t believe I did that. I may need to go away for awhile to “rest.” If you see fit to share this moaning with the Rock Town Hall community, that’d be okay with me—maybe it’d even convince a fellow Band fan or two that I’m a fumbling dolt rather than a dispassionately superficial douche.

Anyway, thanks for listening, and thanks again for the interview!

– Josh

Don’t sweat it, Josh. This happens to the most obsessive of us. You are a better man for this experience.

Townsman chergeuvara sent in the following links for my enjoyment and education. These may be of interest to you, as well, but caution punk rockers: some myths are about to be exploded. Continue reading »

Songwriter Rodney Crowell Inadvertantly Touches on The Mellencamp Conundrum

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Feb 102011

The Cougar Conundrum?

In a recent interview with Terry Gross of NPR’s Fresh Air, songwriter Rodney Crowell inadvertantly touched on a subject that we in the Halls of Rock can no longer ignore: The Mellencamp Conundrum. Crowell was telling a story of his young, aspiring songwriter self meeting with legendary Amercan songwriter Guy Clark. The sage passed along the following words of wisdom to the young man the ropes:

You can be an artist or you can be a star. You can be an artist who becomes a star, but I don’t know if you can do it the other way around.

Just hours before I heard that interview Rock Town Hall was bursting at the seams with the need to finally examine the plight of John Mellencamp. The Mellencamp Conundrum is named for the artist, who has spent more of his career trying to live down his youthful, “overnight” success as heartland pop-rock sensation John(ny) Cougar than possibly any pop sensation in the history of rock ‘n roll who has ever attempted to “do it the other way around,” as Guy Clark warned young songwriter Rodney Crowell against attempting.

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