CHIRP: The Chicago Independent Radio Project

Michael Bennett writes

Friday iPod/MP3 Shuffle -- Happy Birthday John Waters Edition

While not a musician, rock ‘n’ roll has been part of the sensibility of the King of Trash, film director John Waters. His camp-gross out movies are partially grounded in a juvenile delinquent sensibility that came through on ’50s and ’60s rock and roll and R & B sides. Rebellion and free expression were a big part of his movies. As time went on the connection was more explicit, as in the ’50s rock movie homage Crybaby. This is especially true with his greatest commercial success, Hairspray. Most of the film’s budget went towards licensing to the copious slabs of prime obscure rock and soul songs that permeate the movie. It’s a shame the soundtrack on has 12 songs, as there are so many cult classics playing in the background throughout. Moreover, Waters gave us Divine, Edith Massey and Odorama. For all of that and more, let’s salute Waters by grabbing your iPod or MP3 player, hitting shuffle and sharing the first ten songs that come up.

1. Brian Eno — China My China (Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy): Brian Eno’s early solo albums are art-pop classics, with dissonant guitar parts, angular melodies and inventive arrangements and instrumental choices. This song is somewhat in the vein of “Baby’s On Fire”, and between the floaty backing vocals, sing-song melody and prominently strummy guitar the whole thing just oscillates. A real gem.
2. The Go-Go’s — The Way You Dance (Vacation): While Vacation is a quintessential sophomore slump album, suffering in comparison to the albums surrounding it, they were too talented not to have some fine songs. This tune could have easily fit on Beauty and the Beat, as it has all the elements of a good Go-Go’s song, from Belinda Carlisle’s vocals, to the strong chorus hook, to Charlotte Caffey’s great guitar work and Gina Schock’s rock solid drumming.
3. New York Dolls — Pills (New York Dolls): This Bo Diddley song was perfect for the sleazy, trashy image and sound of the Dolls. This song doesn’t rely on the patented Bo beat. Instead, Johnny Thunders and Sylvain Sylvain play dirty blues guitars while David Johansson provides the perfect attitude for this classic.
4. Jean Shepard — Under Your Spell Again (Honky-Tonk Heroine): Jean Shepard is a underrated honky-tonk vocalist from the late-‘50s/early-‘60s. She has just the right balance of hillbilly twang and polish, with a real dose of personality, making her sides consistently good. This is a fine version of a song popularized by Buck Owens.
5. Soft Cell — What? (The Very Best of Soft Cell): Soft Cell was a one-hit wonder here in the States, but it wasn’t because they didn’t have some other great singles (which did hit in their native England). This is one the band’s best, with David Ball’s candy-coated keyboards, a somewhat Motown-y song structure, and a superbly overwrought vocal performance from Marc Almond. I wish the band had maintained this poppy sound for another album, before turning to their equally interesting, but darker, later material.
6. The Sapphires — Who Do You Love (Girl Group Sounds Lost and Found): A fairly sophisticated song from the excellent Rhino Records girl group box set. This song has a mellower groove than the typical girl group song, and the lead vocal is relaxed but intent, with backing vocals that really stamp it as a genre exercise, albeit an inventive one.
7. Hank Williams — Tomorrow Never Comes (The Complete Hank Williams): Even Hank Williams’ lesser known songs are worth a listen and this is a pretty standard country blues. The melody is simple, the lyrics economical and the song moves very well. This is almost as good as Hank’s big hits, which means it’s one hell of a song.
8. The Wonder Stuff — Astley In The Noose (Eight Legged Groove Machine): This was a CD bonus cut, back in the days when they would throw them on to get you to fork over more cash for the CD, rather than the cassette or the vinyl LP. In their early days, The Wonder Stuff could do no wrong, as Miles Hunt and crew effortlessly churned out one great attitude filled Britpop song after another. This is a fun little snipe at the then huge Rick Astley.
9. Jawbox — Sound On Sound (My Scrapbook of Fatal Accidents): This is a cover of an awesome Big Boys tune from a compliation of various odds and ends from the great career of Jawbox. While Big Boys were best known for their jumpy punk-funk, this is a moody, mellow song with a seething intensity underneath. The Jawbox version is more polished and not quite as good as the original, but they do a nice job.
10. Bebel Gilberto – Bananeira (Tanto Tempo): Gilberto’s modern take on bossa nova showed just how timeless this Brazilian style of music is. This is her signature album, full of sunshiney songs that breeze by effortlessly with her wonderful jazzy vocals. I hope this song coming up on shuffle is a harbinger of warmer weather ahead in Chicago.