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  • FORTY-FIVE REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE #9: Desperados Under The Palapas

    AFGHAN WHIGS  “Conjure Me” b/w “My World Is Empty Without You” (Sub Pop Records SP142, 1991)

    All roads lead to Cincinnati, if you believe the cover art of this single, a not-so-subtle take-off on the old Motown label design.  In this case, however, you’d be right, because this week’s slab of ancient wax comes from Greg Dulli and the Afghan Whigs, one of the finest musical outfits ever to emerge from the Queen City of southwestern Ohio.  Combining grunge power and Sonic Youth-style dissonance with a passion for classic R&B, the Whigs were the first non-Northwestern band to sign to Seattle’s prestigious (and, at the time, financially hemorrhaging) Sub Pop label.

    Pressed on delicious-looking milky-white vinyl, this early Whigs 45 gives us the original track, “Conjure Me” on the A-side, which later appeared on their debut LP, Congregation.  A straightforward, uptempo rocker, very much within Sub Pop’s usual vein of things at the time, “Conjure Me” finds Dulli & Co. swimming in thick walls of guitar distortion and beefy vocal hooks.  This promotional video, which probably landed on 120 Minutes once or twice, combines all that with dark images of sex and death.  Ahh, the early ’90’s…

    AFGHAN WHIGS \”Conjure Me\” on YouTube

    Now the real prize here is the B-side, a cover of the Holland/Dozier/Holland-penned Supremes classic, “My World Is Empty Without You.”  Originally a non-hit for the Supremes in late 1965, “My World…” has been covered by everyone from Jose Feliciano to David McCallum.  But it’s this Whigs’ version here that I find the most compelling of all, mainly because of Greg Dulli’s excellent interpretation.  Here he’s using his best John Lennon-meets-Joe Cocker (or is it John Belushi?) vocal, skewering right deep down into the meat of the song’s lyrics, then turning it all upside-down and bashing the living shit out of it.  By the time he & the band reach the second refrain, the song becomes positively unhinged.  This rehearsal tape sez it all.  (And by the way, ladies and gentlemen, notice that Greg Dulli is so good, he can deliver a vocal like this while SEATED.)

    AFGHAN WHIGS \”My World Is Empty Without You\” on YouTube

    The Whigs went on to record many great albums before disbanding in 2001.  Dulli (along with Screaming Trees’ Mark Lanegan) continues in The Twilight Singers.

    NEXT WEEK: I can see for miles and miles, from Portland to the Space Needle and back again.

  • Scott Weiland’s Paralysis: Sex on Fire

    After a particularly nasty bust up with Velvet Revolver and a successful summer jaunt with the reunited Stone Temple Pilots, Scott Weiland is back with a new single and album. Paralysis is the name of the song, while the album, Happy in Galoshes, arrives on 11/25, right in time for the Christmas shopping season.

    This video is…well, it’s pretty damn sexy, no doubt about it. Having seen in person the reactions of women when Weiland walks into a room, it’s safe to say that his female contingent will dig this video while being jealous of the lovely lady who plays Weiland’s love interest. The song itself is pretty good. It rocks while also boasting a chorus sunny enough for pop radio. One thing that continues to floor me is how much Weiland sounds like David Bowie. It’s almost uncanny and it’s something I originally noticed a couple of years ago when they did that all-star version of Across the Universe on the Grammys. Even the video is a little reminiscent of Bowie-I’m thinking China Girl. Hey, there are plenty worse people to be influenced by, right?

    Check the video out for yourself and let us know what you think.

  • Infatueighties #74: Madonna’s “Crazy for You”

    You’re at the first school dance of your life. Mingling with your friends, acting like an idiot and busting out your silliest dance moves, the mood instantly changes when it’s time for the slow dance. Although you’re shy, your buddies goad you into dancing with this fat girl named Heather. As you move back and forth, she redirects your hands so they’re not around her upper back region, but almost on her butt. Somewhat horrified and an equal measure proud of yourself, you manage to complete the dance. Heather looks at you longingly, while you wish that her hot friend April had asked you to dance with her.

    I’d imagine a lot of these types of scenarios occurred throughout the country in the spring of ’85 when Crazy for You was a hit. It’s almost tailor made for those romantic clinches and slow dances. Madonna’s voice is tentative, unsure as the song pulses gently. “Two by two, their bodies become one/I see you in the smoky air/Can’t you feel the weight of my stare”. It’s practically cinematic, which I guess makes sense considering it came from a movie-the largely forgotten Vision Quest.

    This song marched up the charts in competition with one of Madge’s best known (and ultimately forgettable) hits, Material Girl. Crazy for You won the battle, peaking at #1 to Material Girl‘s#3. It remains one of Madonna’s best vocal performances to this day-the song got her nominated for her first-ever Grammy (she lost to Whitney Houston). More importantly, it was one of the first songs that got the general public thinking that maybe this chick might not be just another run of the mill flash in the pan disco singer.