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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: David Middleton

  • FORTY-FIVE REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE #22: Texas If You Can

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    FLESHTONES  “Ride Your Pony” b/w “Roman Gods” (I.R.S. Records #IR-9905, 1981)

    Way before Jack & Meg White called attention to America’s gurgling underground garage-rock movement, New York City’s Fleshtones were brewing a heady concoction of farfisa-driven proto-punk and Stax/Volt-style soul dubbed Super Rock.  After being wowed by their fine perfomance in a late-night screening of Urgh! A Music War, I high-tailed it to my local record shop to buy up all the Fleshtones records I could find.  Sadly, this lone 7-inch was all they had in stock at the moment.  It would have to suffice, but oh what a great little party-platter it is.

    Listen to a sample of \”Ride Your Pony\” by The Fleshtones on Last.FM

    A faithful, almost-live-sounding remake of Lee Dorsey’s Naomi Neville-penned classic, “Ride Your Pony” wasn’t exactly what I was expecting from these CBGB denizens whom I’d just witnessed going head-to-head with The Police and DEVO in Urgh! , but it did rock nonetheless, and it was pretty super.  So there you have it. (As a sweet bonus, check out this performance by Dorsey himself before it gets unceremoniously yanked.)

    The flipside is a remix of the instrumental title-track from the ‘Tones’ I.R.S. debut, Roman Gods, featuring layers of horns, handclaps, gated snare, Bootsyesque bass pops and “ya ya-ya ya-ah” gang-vocals.  A sure-fire dancefloor filler at the nightclub in my brain.  There’s no vids available for this track, but grab a cocktail and swing, you lovers, to this spectacular clip (from a 1980’s Detroit-area public access cable show, mind you) of the boys performing \”Right Side Of A Good Thing\” from their 1983 LP, Hexbreaker.  If that don’t make you miss the ’80’s (or sorry you missed them.  Or glad you missed them), nothing will.

    The Fleshtones still make great records, and still put on the greatest live show on earth, to this day.  Keep up with their dastardly doings at The Fleshtones Hall Of Fame.

    NEXT WEEK: Hold on to another year of English pub-rock.

  • FORTY-FIVE REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE #21: Crone Street Challenge

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    JONATHAN EDWARDS  “Sunshine” b/w “Emma” (Capricorn Records #C-8021, 1971)

    I’ve never considered the “One-Hit Wonder” label to be necessarily a bad thing.  Some of my favorite songs fall into that category.  Hell, most of my favorite artists are NO hit wonders, so having any sort of hit at all seems like a miracle in my eyes.  Consider this two-minutes-and-change quickie by little-known folksinger Jonathan Edwards.  He may only be known for this track, but oh what a track it is.  And to think it more-or-less came about by accident.

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    Legend has it that during the 1970 recording sessions for what was to become Edwards’ Atco (later Capricorn) debut LP, one of the tracks got erased, prompting Edwards to fill in the space with a fresh composition.  “Sunshine,” a short ‘n’ catchy ‘Nam protest song, quickly caught fire and spent 12 weeks on the US singles charts, peaking at #4.  I was just a kid at the time, so I didn’t fully comprehend the draft-card-burning sentiment behind the lyric, but the urgency of this track, driven home by Edwards’ pummelling  acoustic guitar and up-close-&-dry vocal,  was so captivating that I played the A-side over & over ’til it hissed.  Of course, it didn’t hurt that my mom liked the song too, so there was plenty of singing along (and no complaining) at my house.

    See a \’74 Olds lip-sync Jonathan Edwards\’ \”Sunshine\” on YouTube

    You gotta love the internet.  I tell ya, I used to search desperately for surreal moments, but now I desperately try to avoid them.  Anyway, you can also catch some quality live footage of Edwards himself performing the track, in both a solo folk-rock rendition from ’06 here, and in a very recent (we’re talkin’ 2009) speed-bluegrass performance here.  Any way you slice it, though, this song is so incredibly powerful that it never loses its steam in any setting, as evidenced by the thousands of cover versions out there.    Even a Jeep ad couldn’t damage its credibility.  If you’re gonna be a one-hit wonder, buddy, THIS is the kind of hit to have, for certain.  And talk about timelessness:  when he hits that last lyric couplet, how current does that feel?!

    Pulled also from the eponymous debut, B-side “Emma” provides a haunting tale of lost romance, possibly with a ghost, in a Gordon Lightfoot-meets-John Denver setting, replete with a pedal steel guitar and Edwards’ high-lonesome tenor front & center.  Not as urgent or anthemic as “Sunshine” (few songs are), this B-side showcases the artist’s versatility, which is, sadly, something few performers carry with them anymore.

    In fact, it’s that versatility that keeps Jonathan Edwards still going to this day.  He’s worked in rock, folk, country, bluegrass, and even Broadway musicals.  His playing chops and gorgeous singing voice remain captivating and stunning as when you first blasted “Sunshine” over your car’s AM radio.  No matter if it was back in ’71, or just yesterday.

    NEXT WEEK: 5 Roman Gods  ride someone’s pony.  Probably yours.

  • FORTY-FIVE REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE #20: His & Hers Electric Chairs

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    THE M-80’S  “You’ve Been Told” b/w “What I’m After” (Get Hip Records #GH-118, 1989)

    In their incendiary original (but very short-lived) lineup, Virginia garage-rock denizens The M-80’s will live forever in my Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.  Like The Ramones and AC/DC before them, this band was made up of a handful of suburban misfits and ne’er-do-wells, the kind you don’t bring home to mother, the kind who would’ve never lasted in a pedestrian covers-type bar band.  Not merely a bunch of wannabes who formed a band after hearing some Nuggets comps, these guys feasted on a regular diet of Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, The Pretty Things and The MC5, and lived that music.  At a time when it was not cool to do so, I might add.  While most folks were blaming it on the rain or stating it was their prerogative, these boys’ pummelling, amphetamine-fueled live shows were becoming the stuff of underground legend, often culminating in physical violence and broken guitars.  It wasn’t bound to last.  But oh, while it did…

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    The moment my needle hit the groove of this clear-red vinyl 45, the first of several quality singles The M-80’s would release over the next few months, I jumped up so hard my head hit the ceiling and my skull cracked wide open and my brains splattered all over the floor and I died and maggots and vultures swooped in and devoured my still-writhing carcass.  I never fully recovered, but looking back now I can enjoy the purity of this honest, blistering rock & roll moment.  I still get the DTs when I hear the opening chords of  this disc’s A-side, “You’ve Been Told.”  Catch a rare live clip of them performing the track, along with the concert favorite, “Kick The Shit Out Of You,” below.

    See The M-80\’s perform \”You\’ve Been Told\” live on YouTube

    Side-B features the  mid-tempo stomper, “What I’m After,” a Chocolate Watchband-style creeper soaked in reverb thick enough to make The Cramps jealous.  There’s no clip available, but you can stream it at a sweet MySpace page dedicated to their memory.  Meanwhile, don’t miss this other rare clip of the band performing their explosive ’91 Estrus single “’57 Nomad,” complete with powerhouse singer Eddie Pierce’s bad-ass spoken introduction.

    See THE M-80\’S perform \”\’57 Nomad\” live on YouTube

    Pittsburgh-based indie Get Hip released the first M-80’s full-length, In A Fury, later in the year, but women, dope addiction, incarceration, mental illness, and all the other myriad things that make rock bands great, took their toll on the band at the dawn of the 1990’s.  By ’92 our boys were history;  a posthumous collection of unreleased takes compiled by bassist Rob Katherman (featuring the coulda-benna-hit, George Carlin-inspired anthem, “Toledo Windowbox”) the only evidence of what was missed.  For years, their name remained spray-painted all over their hometown like the footprints of a ghost.

    Eddie, Witt, Rob & Rusty, you guys thrilled me.  It’s because I saw you that I know what real rock & roll is.  And every time I spin this 45, my head still hits the ceiling.

    NEXT WEEK: A Minnesota country boy sings a ‘Nam-era protest song, and takes it all the way to the Top 5.