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  • First Listen: Dave Matthews Band’s “Funny the Way it Is”

    dmb

    I have no problem admitting that when it comes to Dave Matthews Band, I am coo coo for Cocoa Puffs. I’ve seen them more than any other band I’ve ever seen in concert (truth be told, I’ve lost count. But I’m somewhere between 11-15 times). Not only are these guys tighter musically than Ralphie May in Spandex, but there’s something in Dave’s lyrics that speaks to me. Does that mean I’m an overgrown frat boy? Possibly. Hippie? Maybe. Do I smoke too much pot? Well, some may argue that there’s no such thing as too much pot.

    Anyway, “Funny the Way it Is” is the first single from “Big Whiskey & the GrooGrux King”, DMB’s upcoming album. Due out June 2nd, it’s the band’s first album without saxophonist LeRoi Moore, who tragically passed away last year from complications resulting from injuries sustained in an ATV accident. As any DMB fan would probably suspect, the band is celebrating LeRoi’s life more than they are mourning his death, and “Big Whiskey” will contain a healthy amount of input from Moore, scrounged up from hours of tape they had of him performing.

    “Big Whiskey” is produced by Rob Cavallo, who has worked with everyone from the Goo Goo Dolls to Green Day, and the song is fairly recognizable as one of his productions. It’s got a crunchy rock sound, polished to a gleam. The lyrics are typical Matthews musings. Although his songwriting has grown by leaps and bounds over the past fifteen years, you can still spot a Dave lyric pretty easily. Overall, I like the song (and enjoy it more with each listen), and think this bodes quite well for the new album.

  • FORTY-FIVE REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE #31: We Built This City On New Wave

    Ritchie Valens' "Donna"

    RITCHIE VALENS  “Donna”  b/w  “La Bamba” (Lost-Nite Records #201, early-’80’s reissue;  Original release: Del-Fi Records #4110, 1958)

    You could Google “Valens” or “La Bamba” or even “famous plane crashes” and learn all you’d ever need to know about the late great Ritchie Valens, but you’d still only be skimming the surface.   The young Pacoima, CA wunderkind, tragically killed at 17 in the same historic crash that took the lives of Buddy Holly and J.P. “Big Bopper” Richardson 50 years ago this past February, left such an indelible stamp on rock music that it’s now literally impossible to fathom a world without him.

    Winter Dance Party

    Though Valens left behind only about an album & 1/2-worth of recorded material, those recordings are so genuine and heartfelt that they still explode from the turntable with an incendiary fury, making evident why Valens remains a major touchstone to everyone from the obvious (Santana, Los Lobos) to the not-so (Led Zeppelin, Richard Hell & The Voidoids).  His biggest hit, captured here on a somewhat questionable oldies-bin reissue, was this 1958 ballad dedicated to the gal that stole his heart, “Donna.”

    Play \”Donna\” by Ritchie Valens

    Lost-love laments in the style of The Platters or The Moonglows were common by 1958, but it’s Ritchie’s fresh-faced honesty that really sells the song here.  And sell it did, spending 18 weeks in the Top 40, peaking at #2 in December and riding on through into early ’59, when DJs flipped the record and discovered its blistering B-side.

    C'mon Let's Go!

    Valens took “La Bamba,” a 300-year-old Mexican folk song, turbocharged it with an electrifying rock ‘n’ roll backbeat and face-melting guitar solos, and created the world’s first Spanish-language rock smash.  And then, like a blazing comet zipping through the evening sky, he was gone.

    Play \”La Bamba\” by Ritchie Valens

    Though only a B-side, “La Bamba” spent 8 weeks in the Top 40, reaching #22.  Los Lobos recorded the song (along with several other faithful Valens covers for the hit biopic of the same name) and sent it to #1 in the Summer of ’87.  But you know that.

    To those of you reading this who have children, please do them a big favor:  go to eBay (or better yet a garage sale or flea market) and buy them an old monaural 45 RPM record player and a stack of old rock singles.  Turn off the fucking video games for once in their lifetime.  Let them sit cross-legged on the floor listening to Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Ritchie Valens, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis and all the other great architects of rock.  Let them thrill to the tight & smooth harmonies of The Drifters or chuckle at the aural slapstick of The Coasters.  Let them jump up & down like total maniacs to Cousin Jerry Lee’s pounding “Pi-Anna” and Uncle Ritchie’s “Flying Guitar.”   Jump up & down with them until the records skip and you all fall down on the floor together laughing hysterically.  Let your kids feel early in their lives the real, pure, true, uplifting power of rock.  They will love you forever.

    NEXT WEEK: Turn around & bend over!

  • New Release of the Week 4/14/09: Day26

    day26

    Not exactly the most exciting week for new releases (man, how much have I been saying THAT lately?), we begin this week’s column with a group that begs two questions: What happened to the R&B group? and Are there any acts left on Bad Boy Records? Shit, think back fifteen years, and the R&B scene was littered with groups: Boyz II Men, Jodeci, Shai, Silk, Intro, Hi-Five, Color Me Badd…now I can barely think of any besides Mint Condition (the only R&B band left on the scene). BIIM’s last release was a covers record,  New Edition pretty much now exists only as a touring group, and everyone else broke up, it seems. What the hell, man?

    Similarly, remember when Bad Boy’s roster boasted The Notorious B.I.G., Faith Evans, Mase, 112 and a handful of others? Well, Biggie’s dead, Mase found Jesus (again), 112 split up, Faith switched labels, and the only acts left on Bad Boy appear to be Diddy himself, Cassie (who really doesn’t need to release another albums) and Day26. Although I’m not the biggest fan (actually, I’m not a fan at all), I at least give props to these cats for carrying the torch.

    Here’s some other stuff hitting stores this week that you may find interesting.

    Beck “One Foot in the Grave” (remastered w/bonus tracks)– Remember when Beck first came out, he had two record deals? His pop stuff was released through Geffen, while his more indie-flavored, uncommercial stuff was free to be released on other labels? Well, for those who don’t remember, “One Foot in the Grave” was the first of those lo-fi recordings after the success of “Mellow Gold” in ’94. Me? I’m not so much a fan of lo-fi Beck, but it’s nice to see his work getting the deluxe treatment.

    Easy Star All Stars “Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band”-Following in the footsteps of “Dub Side of the Moon” and “Radiodread” (which tackled “OK Computer”), this album features a reggae makeover of the entire “Sgt. Pepper’s…” album. Not sure how appealing that sounds to you if you’re a Beatles fan, but the previous installments of this series have been quite listenable, actually. The album features everyone from Jamaican legends Steel Pulse to the hellbent-on-proving-he’s-not-a-one-hit-wonder Matisyahu. Remember him?

    Fastball “Little White Lies”– Those of you who thought Fastball disappeared after scoring smash hits with “Out of My Head” and “The Way”, well, you’re wrong. The power-pop trio is back with their first album in five years. Although I don’t know much beyond the two singles, I have friends who swear these guys can do no wrong, and they certainly have a way with a hook. This one might be worth a listen.

    Bernie WIlliams “Moving Forward”-Although my body is in Boston these days, my baseball heart will always be with the Yankees (that sound you just heard was me getting kicked in the head by 100 Red Sox fans). Retired Yank Bernie Williams has released albums of his instrumental guitar work before, and they’ve been surprisingly well-received-or at least well-received enough that I can’t think of a comparable athlete’s venture into music that was as successful. Anyway, Bernie pulled in the big guns for this release, as he got Bruce Springsteen to appear on this album. I always knew The Boss had good taste in baseball teams.

    Get your complete list of this week’s new releases here.