CHIRP: The Chicago Independent Radio Project

Michael Bennett writes

Friday iPod/MP3 Shuffle -- Happy Birthday Maureen Tucker Edition

She kept one of the most basic beats in rock ‘n’ roll history, and, as a result, Moe Tucker is one of the more influential rock drummers ever. Her work in The Velvet Underground showed a new way for rock drumming, taking rhythm to a simple essence, playing while standing up, emphasizing the bass drum and dispensing with cymbals, all in service of so many great songs. She didn’t let the dissolution of the Velvets take her down, as she released some nice solo records and played with other bands, such as Magnet and Half Japanese. Nowadays, I’ve heard she has taken a strong liking to tea. Let’s pay tribute to Mo by grabbing your iPod or MP3 player, hitting shuffle, and sharing the first 10 songs that come up.

1. Merle Haggard — Sam Hill (Down Every Road, 1962-1994): A loping story song from ol’ Merle. This has a bit of a Marty Robbins feel to it, and really finds a way to shoehorn in the phrase “what in the sam hill is going on?” a number of times. Not one of Merle’s best.
2. Beastie Boys — B-Boy Bouillabaisse (Paul’s Boutique): In Abbey Road fashion, the Beasties closed their classic second album with a medley of short tunes. As with Abbey Road, this succeeds, as each brief tune has at least one good idea, though many of them probably wouldn’t have worked over three or four minutes. When they reissued the album, they made each mini-song into a separate track, which is cool to have on my iPod, but I also keep this full 12 minute plus version, since I also like to hear the whole thing.
3. Too Much Joy — Sandbox (Cereal Killers): A lesser cut from Too Much Joy’s third album. This song has a lilting ’70s R & B underpinning, which somehow works even with Tim Quirk’s less than melodic vocal stylings.
4. Lou Reed — Andy’s Chest (Transformer): The gentle side of Uncle Lou, the song starts quiet and then builds up to a driving, anthemic feel, humanized by Reed’s engaged but scaled down vocal. There is a great lead guitar line on this that had to have been suggested by producer David Bowie. Apparently, this song dates back to Lou’s Velvet Underground days.
5. Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson — Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys (Ultimate Waylon Jennings): Jennings’ biggest crossover hit was assisted by his good pal Willie. It’s not the greatest song of all-time, but Waylon and Willie are having fun, and, at the time the song was released, a lot of young men were making the foolhardy decision to become cowboys, so this was a true public service.
6. Blue Oyster Cult — Don’t Fear The Reaper (Agents of Fortune): One of the coolest songs ever to hit the Top 40, which transformed the band’s proto-metal song somewhat in the direction of the ultimate sinister Byrds tune, although the music was not as riff heavy as typical BOC of the time, the unsettling nature of the song was classic Cult. Guitarist Buck Dharma penned this and also plays so many excellent licks, it’s a true testimony to his talent. Blue Oyster Cult is a truly underappreciated American rock band, and thanks to this songs success, it has allowed them to keep touring to this day.
7. Midnight Oil — Sell My Soul (Diesel and Dust): A lesser known song from the album that made the Oils international stars. The operative principle of Diesel and Dust, beyond its songs promoting aboriginal rights, was to simplify the band’s music after the arty and incendiary tunes on their prior two efforts. This song may have fit better on those albums than any other on this album, with the rhythmic orientation in the verses. But instead of being forceful and jagged, the emphasis is more on spaciousness and melody. Which isn’t to say that they don’t bring some forcefulness into this groove oriented tune.
8. Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes — The Love I Lost — Part I (Can You Dig It? – The ’70s Soul Box): A wonderful slice of Gamble and Huff tuneage from this Philly vocal band. This song mixes gospel piano chords with a supple disco rhythm, and is topped off by a killer vocal from the ultra-soulful Teddy Pendergrass.
9. The Commodores — Flying High (Natural High): A mid-tempo track with some light funk guitar and nice harmony vocals. Not the best Commodores track, but this is an album I listened to a fair amount when I was in junior high and early high school, so I have a soft spot for it.
10. Electric Light Orchestra — Twilight (Time): After a pretentious sci-fi intro, this song explodes out of the speakers to kick off this fine ELO album. This song is caffeinated beyond belief (even more so than “Hold On Tight” from this album, which became the theme song for the Coffee Achievers ad campaign). In addition to Bev Bevan’s pounding drums, the song is full of backing vocal overdubs and quick melodic shifts. Over the top, in the best possible way.