CHIRP: The Chicago Independent Radio Project

Michael Bennett writes

Friday iPod/MP3 Shuffle -- Happy Birthday Graham Parker Edition

He was the oldest of the so called Angry Young Men that sprung up during the so called New Wave era, along with Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson. What he lacked in youth, he more than made up for in anger. Graham Parker was a product of the pub rock scene who combined a great acumen for R & B laced rock ‘n’ roll with intelligent, and often acidic, lyrics. With his backing band the Rumour, he made a series of classic albums, culminating in the 1979 masterpiece Squeezing Out Sparks. After that album, he spent some time trying to get a larger commercial profile, and while not fully succeeding, he still made worthwhile records. Since then, he’s written a novel and continues to make quality records, currently for Chicago’s very own Bloodshot label. Let’s pay tribute to Graham by grabbing your iPod or MP3 player, hitting shuffle and sharing the first 10 tunes that come up.

1. The Left Banke — I Haven’t Got The Nerve (There’s Gonna Be A Storm): This slice of baroque pop has a bit more in common with groups like The Association and The Mamas and The Papas than a lot of Left Banke material. There’s the usual ornate keyboard work (is that a harpsichord, or something twinkier?) and the harmonies are outstanding.
2. Fleet Foxes — White Winter Hymn (Fleet Foxes): One of the band’s calling card tunes, with the harmony vocals put out front in center. The way they stack the harmonies at the outset, you almost expect them to break out into “Row Row Your Boat”, but the song moves into one of the their typically classically earnest melodies.
3. The Lassie Foundation — You Could Shoot Me Down (I Duel Sioux and the Ale of Saturn): The Lassie Foundation were a real darned nice indie pop band from the early aughts. This song is a nice jangle rock tune with smooth vocals and hooky lead guitar lines that wouldn’t have been out of place on ’80s college radio.
4. Spoon — Rhythm & Soul (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga): In my opinion, Spoon perfected its sound on the Girls Don’t Tell album and each succeeding album merely attempts to refine or expand upon those ideas with variable success. I thought Ga x 5 was a good but not great album, but this song sounds like it should have been on Girls Don’t Tell, which means it’s pretty great.
5. Jethro Tull — Aqualung (Aqualung): It took me a while to figure out where Jethro Tull fit in the rock spectrum. I got into them through some more folk based mid-‘70s work. They were a good folk rock band, and their harder stuff is just amplified old folk. Aqualung is a pretty darned good album that is full of Ian Anderson’s invective against religion. I’m not sure how successful he is lyrically, but the songs are fine, and the opening riff of this song is one of the almighty riffs of all time.
6. Dirty Projectors — Cannibal Resource (Bitte Orca): I sort of like Dirty Projectors, but find some of their constructions to be a bit mannered and precious. But when they hit, as they do on this song, I think they push some of the same buttons that Tune-yards does. I like the really creative backing vocal arrangements, but I’m not a fan of their male lead singer, who can be irritating at times.
7. John Coltrane — Acknowledgement (A Love Supreme): I’m simply not expert enough in jazz to give too much of a summary here. Of course, this may be Coltrane’s most popular album, and it is, at one level, challenging, but both the playing and the emotional resonance of the music make it reasonably accessible. This album has a distinctive mood that manages to be “cool” while having loads of feeling too.
8. Beck — Milk & Honey (Midnight Vultures): A nice whacked out R & B/ funk tinged number from my second favorite Beck album. Beck knows his ’70s funk and how to put together a groove. So this has the right vibe, even though it doesn’t have the normally requisite greasy feel. The chorus sticks and there’s a nifty instrumental breakdown that throws in disco and Kraftwerk-y electronica. Very few artists can throw in so many different sounds together and make it coherent like Beck can.
9. Splitsville — I Confess (Repeater): One of the best power pop bands of the late ’90s/early ’00s, this Baltimore trio could show off a bit of a pomp side, best captured on this awesome song. While the guitar is shredding in a new wave gone bad fashion, the vocal melody is dripping with importance, which fits this tale of obsession. The middle eight, which involves some nifty complex backing vocal arranging (over harsh power chords) adds to the effect. This song is pure momentum and intensity and I will never tire of it.
10. The Vaselines — Lovecraft (The Way Of The Vaselines): Thanks to Nirvana covering a couple of their tunes, this Scottish indie pop band was saved from possible obscurity, and this is from the second, and more comprehensive, collection of their original recordings. This is a careening pop drone which gallops along at a nice clip. I hear a bit of Velvet Underground influence, and a shared sensibility with some of the Flying Nun stuff of the era and other U.K. bands like The Woodentops.