First We Take Manhattan

Current re/discoveries:

A couple years ago I decided to give in to the hype and check out Ryan Adams. While I do actually like a lot of this alt-country stuff that's so popular these days, I didn't really like his previous band, Whiskeytown all that much. I saw them years ago up at the Magic Stick and wasn't into it at all.

So, when he put out a 'rock' record, I decided it was time to check it out. In 2003, he released the album "Rock N Roll," a sprawling record that ran the gamut from Replacements-style punk to '70s and '80s power pop to tracks that could give Coldplay a run for their money. Initially, I only really cared about the song "1974" because of it's Westerbergian goodness (new music snob word!). It's just so balls-out rock, I can't help it. The rest of the album was completely different and I was put off by that. For some reason I pulled it out again recently (probably because Andrea said something about it two months ago and I just remembered). It's really, really fucking good. Every song. I mean that. I am not a Ryan Adams fan. Well, maybe I am now, but I didn't approach this record as someone who was already real familiar with his work. So I wasn't pissed that it wasn't country. I think I remember some of his hardcore fans throwing a fit because it was "too rock."

Anyway, you should check it out. Click the pic to go to Adams' site.

A couple weeks ago, I was lying in bed and a song came into my head. It was "Democracy" from Leonard Cohen. In 1992, when his album "The Future" came out, that was my first encounter with Cohen. I didn't know much of his backstory besides that he was a very well-respected singer-songwriter and that he was older. It wasn't until almost ten years later that I bought his first album, "The Songs of Leonard Cohen." Why the hell didn't I do that sooner? Oh, I know why, it was too low-key for me (at the time). When I first heard him in 1992, and then when I got the first album, I just wasn't all that into downbeat music. I go up and down, but mostly up. I was up, then my car was stolen, I lost a ton of music, and I was down, and I probably would've liked to listen to "The Songs of Leonard Cohen" but that was one of the stolen CDs. So, I was talking about this night a few weeks ago when that song popped into my head. I had to get up. It was 4am, and I had to get up for work in three hours, but I had to get up and go to the computer to go online and buy the biggest compilation I could find of Cohen's music. I ended up with "The Essential Leonard Cohen," which came out in 2002. I've been listening to it all day. I was so afraid that I'd lose my punk edge by the time I turned 30. In almost exactly two months, I will be 30, and I haven't lost my edge, it's just taking new forms. Yes, Leonard Cohen is kinda downbeat, but the lyrics are what it's all about. Shit. Click the picture to check out some of his records and listen to some samples.

Then, this weekend, I ended up DJing two nights in a row. Normally I only do Saturday, but this week the Garden Bowl (Detroit) got a double-header outta me. Friday and Saturday. So, at some point in the night, I needed an out. I needed a connection between "Kung Fu" from Curtis Mayfield (soul) to '60s pop stuff like the Zombies. So I played "Strawberry Letter No. 23" from Shuggie Otis. Damn, I always forget how good that guy is. His dad was the '60s R&B bandleader Johnny Otis. By the time he was in his teens he was already a guitar virtuoso, having to wear sunglasses when playing shows with his dad just so the clubs would let him in. When Brian Jones was asked to leave the Rolling Stones (or quit, whatever), Otis was one of the Stones' first choices for a replacement. He was sixteen years old! Unfortunately, he was never directly invited and the band ended up with Mick Taylor. So, his fourth and last album "Inspiration Information" came out in 1974. Pure genius. The kinda shit that people from Stereolab to DJ Shadow to David Byrne all claim as an influence. Seriously good soul and pop and funk. All kinda psychedelic. When the album came out he was too late to get in on the psychedelic soul movement of early Funkadelic, Sly & the Family Stone, and The Chambers Brothers. The album was overlooked and mostly forgotten until 2001 when David Byrne reissued it with four bonus tracks on his Luaka Bop record label. There's one song on it that you might have heard, and that's "Strawberry Letter No. 23," which the Brothers Johnson had a huge hit with. Their cover is the million seller, not Shuggie's, that's why no one knows who he is. Click the pic to check out more from Shuggie Otis.

That's all for today, kids.