Still, in revisiting old ones in my year-long project to annotate all of them (and the new weekly ones), some of them excite me more than others. Maybe it's just what I feel like that day.
Ok, enough. Let's get on with the show. I am not trying to undersell this one. It is anchored by 3 versions of "Hanging On The Telephone", first made popular by Blondie, but originally by The Nerves. There's also a very brief snippet of one by that chanteuse of cover songs and commercials, Cat Power.
If you are hanging on the telephone, something I am loath to do, it's wise to avoid, as Kool Keith of The Ultramagnetic MC's would say, "Talkin' Out Ya Ass."
ELO's "Evil Woman" was always, in my overactive 1st grade imagination, "Medieval Woman". Maybe I could not conceive of a world filled with "evil" women. Medieval women, clearly, I thought were to be avoided, given their backwards ways.
"Don't Do Me Like That" by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers was a huge album when I was in 4th grade. Classic rock station overkill has not ruined its appeal for me, many years later.
Couple Bob Dylan covers: "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" by Jimi Hendrix on the BBC and King Candy's somber take on "Simple Twist Of Fate". Bob is here with a rare, and I think much preferable, alternate take of "Lily, Rosemary, and The Jack Of Hearts." Slower and less busy than the Blood On the Tracks version.
Odd Dylan fact: he was, during a lost period in the 80s, trying to join The Grateful Dead, who are here with the lovely "Uncle John's Band". They put it to a vote and only one member said no, thus blocking his membership. My grammar school music teacher was a close relative of this musician and I can safely surmise that a petty mean streak runs through that family.
Bob was one of The Traveling Wilburys, whose "Handle With Care" is covered by Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins. Other Wilburys here: Roy Orbison with the dramatic "Running Scared" and George Harrison with a live version of Frank Sinatra's favorite Beatles song "Something". Frank is here with "Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams".
Lushlife has an inspired pairing of Kanye West with The Beach Boys on "The New Workout Plan". I've also included the obscure Donal Leace, whose "Today Won't Come Again" was heavily sampled on Kanye's "Hey Mama".
Outkast's spacey "Synthesizer" is followed by the slightly harrowing "The Addict's Psalm" by Ralph Carmichael, and it sounds so much more real as a 70s relic than the breezy retro sound of early Outkast. Also sounding convincingly retro, Madlib's Yesterday's New Quintet covering Stevie Wonder's "I Am Singing".
Journey's "Who's Crying Now" was probably a junior high slow dance song for yours truly, but...what a bum out. I love it though. As I also love the sweet Replacements outtake "We Know The Night".
That's followed by The Replacements' very own Tommy Stinson doing a live version of "Hate It" at Coney Island High in NY. I was there! With less than a hundred other people.
I went with a good friend and we stayed long after it was over and the bar cleared out. Tommy joined his girlfriend and another girl for beers and we hung around awkwardly, trying to work up the nerve to join them in the otherwise empty upstairs bar.
I would love to say that we all hung out and became great friends, but that would be a lie. No matter, it's probably wise we followed the old maxim: never meet your heroes.
