Audio files: Nude Deborah Harry; GWAR; and turbo folk
Welcome to “Audio Files,” my new weekly column here at When Falls the Coliseum. AF is scheduled to run every Thursday at noon, God willing, and I’m fairly certain that it will.
I can’t promise the topics will be useful, relevant, or newsworthy, but I’ll make every effort to smother you with my relentless enthusiasm for all things aural. I should add that the topics won’t be limited to music; all dimensions of sound and noise will be explored.
Here we go…
News
- George Orwell’s Animal Farm will soon be a musical; Elton John is involved.
- Madison, Wisconsin’s Smart Studios has officially closed its doors, which is a drag. It was a damn fine studio with lots of history. But the Smart guys have kindly supplied a list of artists whose music is still in their possession. If your name is on the list, contact Smart! (That means you, Mad Trucker Gone Mad, U2, and Old Skull!)
- Pete Townshend will tour with the Who in 2011 despite being unable to hear.
- The Internet’s Jeff Milner has assembled more backmasked Satanic evilness than you can shake a demonic scepter at.
- Vlad Putin sings.
Genre of the week
Obscure 80s Flashback
- Raise your hand if you remember Tony Carey! Late of Rainbow, the underrated singer/keyboardist scored a couple of hits in 1984 with “A Fine, Fine Day” and “The First Day of Summer.” Carey also presided over the concept band Planet P Project, which produced some fun, creepy material.
Album cover of the week
- Davie Allan and the Arrows, the Born Losers Theme:
Drum rudiment of the week
- Ho! The fabled flamacue.
Heating up my playlist
- Annie, “Chewing Gum.” This is one of the sexiest songs I’ve ever heard. Reminds me of something that would’ve been on the soundtrack for a screwball 80s sex comedy, e.g., Private School.
- Danzig, “Sacrifice.” This song rocks so hard. It fills the brevities of my gymnastics with wisps of joy.
- The Kinks, “Catch Me Now I’m Falling.” Probably my favorite Kinks song, along with “Oklahoma U.S.A.,” which is so good that even indie killjoys Yo La Tango couldn’t ruin it.
Random shards of sonic information
- Some field recordings of emergency rooms.
- At the Neurologica blog, Steven Novella explores the connection between music and brain elasticity.
- War is hell…on hearing.
Time signature of the week
- It’s 7/8, the favorite odd time signature of yours truly. Some swell songs that contain portions of the 7/8 brew include Rush’s “Tom Sawyer” and Blondie’s “Heart of Glass.” Beware, though: Wikipedia explains that “Mother” by the Police is in 7/8, and it sure as hell isn’t.
Sailing the seas of YouTube (and beyond)
- It’s too bad that a whole generation of music fans only knows the late Ronnie James Dio through the dopey tributes of Jack Black and Tenacious D. Unfair! The guy could really, really sing. Still, I suppose I can’t get too cranky given that such Dio videos as “Mystery” have an undeniable hilarity quotient.
- I implore you to watch this Al Goldstein interview with country rebel dude David Allan Coe. Goldstein leads with the greatest icebreaker ever: “David, where did you go wrong? You’re a fucking degenerate…you are the ultimate degenerate personified.”
- I submit that Heavy D’s “Don’t Curse” is one of the all-time underrated hip-hop jams. It features several stellar cameos (i.e. Q-Tip, Pete Rock, Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap, Grand Puba), and for added awesomeness, there is a “Free Slick Rick” chant at the end. (Speaking of Rick, your humble narrator recently contributed the biography to Rick’s Facebook page, with the Ruler’s blessing, natch).
- I recently uncovered some YouTube footage from Wally George’s iconic UHF show. This discovery made me squeal with joy because Wally often featured such titans of immortal sleaze as the Mentors and GWAR. Top stuff. Combat TV at its finest!
- To hell with American Idol. Bulgaria’s Music Idol is where it’s at. Check out this phenomenal version of “I Will Always Love You” by Nevena Tsoneva.
- More international flava: please help yourself to a gallon of Hungary’s Besh o droM. Dazzling prowess.
Weekly display of virtuosity
- Chances are, anything recorded by Buddy Rich is synonymous with genius, but if you really want to whet your ass-whistle, then please contemplate this muscular display.
Unclothed musician of the moment
- Deborah Harry, looking fantastic.
Gratuitous mention of a friend or acquaintance
- Here’s my pal Chris having a tender moment with the bass gemshorn.
Music history moment
On this day in sound, the following souls were catapulted from the womb by hard rockin’ cherubs:
- Bass-playing super-hero Geddy Lee (1953); and
- Indelicate machine gun of melodic metal, John Sykes (1959).
Today is also National Anthem Day in Romania. Speaking of that strange land, did anyone else notice that Nicolae Ceausescu was recently ripped out of the ground over there? Ceausescu, btw, was an odd fellow.
Well, that’s all for now. Until next time, I leave you with the best musical Tweet of the week, courtesy of Neil Hamburger.
Audio Files is published every Thursday.
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Holy crap this is a jam-packed column. How are you going to keep this up every week?
I did not remember Tony Carey (I do remember Rainbow, of course) — but when I clicked over and listened to “The First Day of Summer” I could not believe that I actually knew the song. I must have liked it way back in 1984, but I don’t think I’d heard it since. Giddy strange feeling.
@Ricky
That video is classic 1984 — over-directed and over-conceptualized yet it’s a perfect display of cheese…