Quick Takes – July 30, 2024

I listen to a lot of new (to me) music, and sometimes I feel like telling people about things I like in case they might like them, too. That’s all this is. Every time I have four records I want to share, one of these is going up. Consider it my own mini version of Robert Christgau’s consumer guide.

Wilson Pickett – Hey Jude (1968)

Damn. I came to this for the title track: I have always disliked The Beatles’ original, and hoped that Pickett might convert me. He did not. But, god, what a glorious howl is this album. Backed by stellar session players, including a pre-fame Duane Allman, the album is one soulful banger after another. His “Hey Jude” is fine, if a tad histrionic, and his take on “Born to Be Wild” is sort of embarrassing, but pretty much every other track (my favourites include the opener “Save Me”, the desperate howl of desire that is “Back in Your Arms”, and the back-to-back boasting of “My Own Style of Loving” and “A Man and A Half) will get your blood pumping hard and make you wish you were at the edges of the crowd in a dark sweaty bar at 11:35 on a Muscle Shoals Saturday night in 1968, watching Wilson own the moment.

Childish Gambino – “Atavista” (2024)

Donald Glover has long been a favourite as an actor (especially on “Community”), where his style is a mix of effortless cool and awkward nerd, and standup comic, but other than the odd tune – especially “Heartbeat” – his music has never struck me in the same way. (“This is America” is a lot more enjoyable when part of its video is paired with “Call Me Maybe”.) But I loved this album from the first listen. My initial impression was that parts of it (“Sweet Thang” stands out) feel like a lost Prince album (of which there are likely multitudes), but if you’re more hearing folks like Sly Stone or less schmaltzy phases of Stevie Wonder, I won’t argue with you. The overall vibe is quite mellow (his duet with Ariana Grande, “Time”, furthers my reassessment of her place in the musical firmament), but this is pushed up against the chaotic dance-floor funk of a track like “Algorhythm” or the sly disco-lite bedroom eyes heat of “To Be Hunted” or an eccentric toe-tapper like “Little Foot Big Foot” or the heart-in-your-throat ecstasy of “Human Sacrifice”. Just stellar from needle drop to fade out.

Paint Fumes – Real Romancer (2023)

I read a lot of music blogs looking for unfamiliar bands to check out, and, man, did that ever pay off with these guys. It’s a sort of dirty power pop, mixing gritty garage band elements with the kind of hooks you’d expect to find on a Cheap Trick record, with a Ramones-lite guitar sound. Listening to this, you just know that Paint Fumes is a band that absolutely kills live, but the slightly cleaned-up version found here is still a potent force, a jump up and shake your ass in the kitchen, backyard, shopping mall, wherever you happen to be when the wave hits you. “Holding My Heart”, “Starting Over” and “Can’t Stand It” are among the standouts to my ears. If you have a hankering for something new that feels like it was recorded on third-hand equipment in your best friend’s weird uncle’s shed in 1977, this is the record for you. (Band leader Elijah con Cramon is also anti-Trump, so you know he’s a good egg.)

Charm School – Charm School (2021)

So, one day I was thinking about the Elvis Costello song “Charm School” and began wondering if there was a band with that name. There are in fact two such bands, and they couldn’t sound more different from each other if that was their intention. I liked both, but I’m going to pick the quirky electro female over the four quirky pop-punk males (though the maybe sideways reference to David Foster Wallace with their song “Finite Jest” completely endears them to me). The female version – a self-described side project of one Joanna Katcher, whose claim on her Spotify bio to love “plump cats” told me we were kindred spirits (sorry, Merry!) – is a bouncy, often danceable collection of glittery tinker toy pop that hits a whole bunch of my sweet spots: music that sometimes sounds like it was made on a Fisher Price toy, jittery beats, weird tempo shifts, white girl rap. Opener “Precious” sets the tone when the self-infatuated narrator sings “I love myself, I’m into me”, and she should. Quirk usually has a short lifespan with me, but the second and third plays were just as entrancingly oddball without becoming annoying.

Quick Takes – July 6, 2024

Terry Callier – “What Color Is Love” (1972)

This is the kind of record that’s called jazzy by people (like me!) who don’t really listen to much jazz, but it’s actually easy listening with a heavy dollop of bedroom eyes Chicago soul. The easy listening cliches are there in abundance – faux classical guitar, satiny smooth backup singers, dramatic strings – but these are elevated by Callier’s impassioned vocals and the crisp production of Charles Stepney. The opener “Dancing Girl” is so gentle that you barely notice how it rises in emotion and stakes until it’s caught you up in its whirlwind. And in the middle of all this AOR, there suddenly appears “You Goin’ Miss Your Candyman”, which is about as funky as a song can get – it’s no surprise Stepney went on to work with Earth, Wind & Fire.

Bronski Beat – “The Age of Consent” (1984)

There was a recent trend on TikTok – I assume it’s passed by now, given the short attention spans on that app (okay, all apps) – where younger folks asked their parents (or grandparents, I guess) to dance the way they did in the ‘80s while Bronski Beat’s “Smalltown Boy” played. Besides seeing myself in some of those oldsters – and marvelling at how well a lot of them still moved – I was also reminded of what a great song it was. My cis male roommates and I didn’t see it as a tale of gay discovery – I’m not sure we were even paying attention to that element – and we mostly mocked Jimmy Sommerville’s falsetto, but we also rushed the dance floor when it came on at our local nightclub. The whole album is one banger after another, and I can only say that listening to it in my car instead of under a disco ball (which I absolutely need to invest in) was a massive error in judgement.

Willie Nelson – “The Border” (2024)

Willie never had the most beautiful or dynamic voice, but it wasn’t really his calling card either. Rather, his stellar guitar playing and ear for a great song – both his own and others – has been the mark of his success, and neither have deserted him yet at age 91. The record is mostly a collection of songs that attest to the power of enduring love, but the highlights to these ears are the title track opener and the sentimental “Hank’s Guitar”. It’s been awhile since I listened to one of Willie’s albums, but this was a good reminder that he is one of the all-time greats, as well as a solid liberal elder statesman among country music’s conservative lunkheads.

Norma Tanega – “Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog” (1966)

A smart and world-weary collection of eccentric folk pop with an opening track that will be instantly recognizable to fans of “What We Do In The Shadows”. Tanega didn’t often display much vocal range, but her soulful delivery always holds your attention. The more upbeat tunes stand out, in particular “Treat Me Right”. The title track was a top 40 hit in the musically weird year that was 1966 (and reached no. 3 in even weirder Canada, nestled in between songs from the-not-at-all-weird B.J. Thomas and the Righteous Brothers), and though she never had that kind of commercial success again, she continued to make music into her late 60s.

Quick Takes – May 3, 2024

Fishbone – “Fishbone” (2023)

I was looking for their classic EP from 1985, but it turns out Fishbone is still around and creating new music, though not new EP titles. The music is mostly an invigorating blend of ska, funk and hip hop, except when they go full-on pop punk with “I Don’t Care”. The highlight is “Estranged Fruit”, an updating of the Billie Holiday classic for the MAGA era. Just a super fun listen (mostly – see MAGA reference).

Sex Pistols – “The Original Recordings” (2022)

The Pistols’ lone completed studio album, “Never Mind the Bollocks”, is an all-time top 10 for me, and I’ve really enjoyed John Lydon’s post-Pistols work, but I never took the time to dig into the rest of the band’s limited catalogue. This collection of “Bollocks” tracks mixed with B sides and covers of tunes from the likes of Eddie Cochran, The Who and Paul Revere & the Raiders was a blast. Two new (to me) originals, “Lonely Boy” and “Silly Thing”, are great pop songs that give a hint of what the band might have evolved into had they managed to carry on through the drama and tragedy.

The Red Button – “She’s About to Cross My Mind” (2007)

This sounds like the bastard child of the British Invasion washed up on a beach in California and started hanging out with some surf brats playing jangly CSNY knockoffs, with echoes of Ben Folds and Fountains of Wayne on certain songs. No duds, though the last third of the album lags a bit behind the earlier tunes. The title track, “Floating By” and “Can’t Stop Thinking About Her” are among the standouts.

Belinda Carlisle – “Belinda” (1986)

I always thought she was super adorable (though my sort-of crush was for her band mate Jane Wiedlin), so I was rather surprised when I came across a blog post where the writer was surprised to find that he now thought she was attractive but never had before. Different strokes, right? Anyway, I loved The Go-Go’s and never took Belinda seriously as a solo artist, but this is a really fun record (“Mad About You” still kicks) with a bubblegum pop gloss on her former and future band’s sound.