Blog Archives
Saturday Night Studio – Xylophoning It In
….because when one thinks of rock music, one immediately thinks of \m/ xylophone \m/ !
[If flashing or flickering lights affect you negatively, don’t click some of these videos]
Xylophone has a somewhat obscure history with popular music, but it’s been quite a number of songs, especially in the 80s. Tears for Fears used it to good effect in their song “Change” –
Dig those crazy dance moves during the bridge. So 80s.
The Thompson Twins were known for skilled percussion work by Alannah Currie, including some understated xylophone in “Hold Me Now” –
They had a string of hits in the mid-80s, then just sort of disappeared. Wonder whatever happened to them?*
Rumors on the street claim that Lisa Lisa & The Cult Jam snuck some xylophone into their hit song “Lost In Emotion,” but rock scientists have been unable to confirm this conclusively.
Bananarama dabbled with Xylophone in their song “Cruel Summer” –
Cops chasing the band to no avail, only to end up dancing in the streets with said band… a defining characteristic of 80s videos.
[Yes, yes, I know summer is pretty much over, and what month it is. Have some September with amusing xylophone and a gleefully abused puppet.]
Xylophone has made it into some more recent songs, such as the Pomplamoose song I cleverly snuck in above, as well as a relatively recent hit by Gotye [Warning: skinny dude who doesn’t like pants. but hey, it’s got Kimbra]. Specialists are still trying to figure out how to pronounce “Gotye” but many agree it has nothing to do with an exuberant affinity for goats.
At the end of the day, however, it appears that the all-time king hell middle-finger-to-the-world winner of rock xylophone is this classic –
Such nice, undisturbed fellows.
_______________________________
According to this 2004 piece by Ace Of Spades HQ, Thompson Twinner Joe Leeway later developed an interest in politics and/or economics…
Saturday Night Studio – While My [Insert Instrument Here] Gently Weeps
One of the best-known songs by the Beatles is “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” written by George Harrison. It’s a rarity among Beatles songs in that an outsider, Eric Clapton, played lead guitar.
It’s incredibly famous, widely revered, held in high regard by the most respected and accomplished musicians and songwriters. Which is very nice, but I don’t really care. I’m pretty lukewarm about the song.
However, it’s also been covered a number of times, and this is where it gets interesting. Most Beatles covers are adequate at best and pathetic at worst. Consider the song “Tomorrow Never Knows” – how does one make an insane acid trip like that boring? Yet many have tried, with Beatle-envying wannabes Oasis taking their best shot at murdering it.
WMGGW has its share of lame covers, I’m sure, but once you start switching out the guitar for other instruments, say, the ukulele, things start to happen…
Who woulda thought a uke could rip like that?
Then we come to that ultimate 80s musical instrument, the keytar (mixed with visuals from MS Paint Adventures, for no reason discernible to me, but kinda fun anyway) –
Everybody else go home. Especially those Oasis twits. Victorious Moment indeed.
Saturday Night Studio – Walk On By
The song “Walk On By” was released in 1964, sung by Dionne Warwick. It was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, both part of the famous Brill Building group.
Her voice from 1:40 to 1:53 is a thing of wonder.
It spawned a large, nay, ridiculous number of cover versions, ranging from a 12 minute odyssey by Isaac Hayes…
…then from funk to punk with the Stranglers…
… and a version by Richard X with vocals by Deborah Evans that sounds like it was recorded next to a beachside video arcade…
{yeah, I dig that one]
… and back to radio-friendly yet very cool format by Seal in 2005 –
A very long list of covers can be found here.
Asimov’s Night Job
Few know that Isaac Asimov had a second career, apparently traveling and giving nighttime lectures under an assumed name [click image to embiggen]…
A clever disguise, even better than Clark Kent’s.
Skipping ahead a bit…
So the lecture circuit is just a cover for his real career…. arch-supervillain! Jimmy of course finds a way to signal his pal Superman…
Turns out he wasn’t really dead (no one ever is in comics, including Superman himself, who was killed in 1992), instead giving up his career as a supervillain and returning to the life of a science and sci-fi writer.
________________
If you’re wondering how the hell DC Comics could publish something like this without getting sued…. that’s a story for another post.
Saturday Night Studio – Peter Gunns
Henry Mancini performs the legendary “Peter Gunn Theme” on the Steve Allen show circa 1983 or thereabouts, with friends Pete Candoli, Conte Candoli, Carl Fontana, Jerome Richardson, and Plas Johnson –
The iconic theme has inspired, been used, or been covered by… just about everybody, from The B-52s, to a Monty Python sketch, to a just-fooling-around Monkees version to a rather flat cover by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. I expect much hate mail from prog-rock fans, but it’s really not that great a cover. Deal with it.
There was also a beyond lame rap duo called Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz, who had one hit with the atrocious “Deja Vu (Uptown Baby).” The less said, the better, except to note that they broke up after releasing exactly one single from one album. Reportedly they surrendered large amounts of money to Steely Dan for sampling their song “Black Cow” without permission. One wonders if the events are related.
Art Of Noise did their version of the song in their own very 80s performance-art style, complete with video –
I remember it being on the radio quite a lot back then, during the Golden Age of Popular Music.
250!
Post Number 250 at Night Sky Radio. With this milestone accomplishment, let the celebration commence!
All of us here at Night Sky Radio promises to continue broadcasting only the very best content online!*
___________
*Staff lawyers state that promises without written contracts are not binding.
Saturday Night Studio – Saint Etienne
Back again with music you likely won’t hear on other radio stations…
In the early 90s, Saint Etienne released their debut album Foxbase Alpha, which featured a cover of a Neil Young song, “Only Love Can Break Your Heart.” Unlike the spare, acoustic original, they went with a house music style –
Sarah Cracknell sings in the video, but on the original track the vocals were by Moira Lambert, as Cracknell had not yet joined the band on a permanent basis. Sarah did appear in one of the two videos filmed for the song, miming the lyrics. A black and white video was also recorded, with “vocals” by Lucy Golden of the short-lived band Golden.
That snippet you heard at the end of the concert vid is the next song in the set, “Method Of Modern Love.” No relation to the Hall & Oates hit from the 80s.
More songs from that show can be found on Youtube here. I rather like “Nothing Can Stop Us” –
Song – Only Love Can Break Your Heart on Amazon
Song – Nothing Can Stop Us on Amazon
Album – Foxbase Alpha on Amazon
Saturday Night Studio – Delavega
Some music for a Saturday night, that you probably won’t hear on other radio stations…
Delavega performing “One Time” and “On My Mind” –
Studio version of “One Time” –
And It’s Not Even The Dog Days Yet
Been busy. Some fragments – – It’s been over 100 degrees here for most people, but I identify as being in a 73 degree environment.. But people refuse to acknowledge my temperature identity, and oppress me by making me feel too hot.
– “Well-Behaved Women Rarely Make History” … is a phrase I’ve seen entirely too much. Ill-behaved women (or men, or people of difference) are just annoying. But considering history is largely a chronicle of Things Gone Bad, is making history really something to aspire to?
– A typical meeting with Night Sky Radio’s station manager… 
H/T to Vox
nightskyradio 