Aug 312007
I was listening to The Clash’s “Train in Vain” the other day, and I got to wondering if it’s one of rock’s most effective changeups. The music is not too foreign for anything the band had done to that point – it’s not a simple stylistic move, like Led Zeppelin tackling reggae on “D’yer Maker”. And while Mick Jones was always good for an autobiographical song about an old mate, the band never tackled the topic of anything beyond platonic love. Even “Lover’s Rock”, a track earlier on side 4 of London Calling, is more of a “politics with a small ‘p'” song, as Paul Simonon might explain.
So I ask our Townspeople…What’s your favorite rock changeup and what about it makes it a special one?
“Happiness” by Bauhaus.
The last song on the last album by my favorite band is a swirling acoustic singalong that is the polar opposite of the opening track “Double Dare” of their debut album four years earlier. This song is the culmination of their growth as a band, the loss of their frontman to rehab confinement, and learning to play their instruments.
It paves the way for the love and rockets to come.
I think Wait Till the Summer Comes Along on Kinkdom is the first Dave Davies songwriting contribution. It’s a plaintive countryish song, not what we would have expected from Dave the Rave, and an indication that his future role in the Kinks as a songwriter would be very different from his role as guitarist.
After watching this video, I’m prompted to ask — was Mick Jones just concentrating on singing this number, or is he just totally inept as a lead guitar player? His ‘tasty licks’ on this live version are embarrassing.
Squeeze: Tempted. Paul Carrrack on one album, one song ended up creating the most recognizable Squeeze song in their history. Great white soul.
Moe Tucker singing “After Hours” is a nice change of pace for me.
“Moonlight Mile” counts for me as a change-up, because without Keith Richards’s driving guitar (he is not on the track), the song drifts along on Mick Taylor’s modal riffs. Probably the highlight of Taylor’s contributions to the Stones, and a song that they would, or could, never try to duplicate.
Moonlight Mile is so great. It was used very memorably as the closing song for a Sopranos episode, one of the later ones.
The Stones tried to repeat the exact same change-up on the underrated Goats Head Soup — the song Winter. It’s not at all bad, but it’s no Moonlight Mile.
I agree that GHS is underrated. I like the overall loose groove and burned-out honesty it projects. And, while you can start to see the end of the road from here, songs like “Winter,” “Comin’ Down Again” for me the all time best Richards tune), even “Dancin with Mr. D” make it a memorable ride.
I’ll take GHS over Some Girls any day.
Moonlight Mile
Great answers, and I like how you tried to bait us into a GHS vs Some Girls showdown, Dr. John! This may have to be a topic we explore in depth and with sound examples in the future. Anyone have GHS in digital format? I don’t own that album.
Speaking of Squeeze, how about “Messed Around”, the straightforward ’50s-style number at the end of their one great album? It’s cool to hear them play a song without trying to be “quirky,” much like the benefit of “Tempted”.
And speaking of shocking ’50s-style numbers, how about that late-period Queen song? A bit campy, sure, but totally unlike anything I’d ever heard from those blowhards.
At the time, wasn’t “Julie’s in the Druq Squad” a changeup?
“Crazy Lil Thing Called Love” is a great choice, and a good song.
I guess my choice would be Buddy Holly’s “True Love Ways”. Now of course we don’t know if this was a changeup or a shape of things to come…..
I’ll bait you further. While Some Girls is more consistent than GHS, fewer of the songs stand out for me. Songs like “Heartbreaker” and “Winter,” on GHS, rank up there with the Stones’ best.