Best B-Sides

Yes I know The Beatles (HJH) set the standard (& Wow… what a legacy), BUT I got ‘Wrestle Poodles & Win” (live 40th anniversary special of The Bonzo Dog Dooh Dah Band)) CD out of the library. The last song of the night (I’m assuming an encore) was ‘Canyon’s of Your Mind’. This was the B-side to The Bonzo’s only hit, ‘Urban Spaceman’. I don’t want to give anything away, but it is unquestionably (???) the best B-side ever. YouTube it ‘cos I can’t add that to this blog. You even get the crowd singing along. How many B-sides do that?

HFH: Herman’s F****** Hermits
OK, I haven’t done the research, but I’ve oft (good word.. oft).. Anyway, I’ve heard it that in 1965, Herman’s Hermits were bigger in the US than The Beatles. So they must have been better,then. A couple of them later formed Led Zeppelin. We all know about HJH, but I’m starting a deserved thread for HFH. What’s their greatest album?

Yeah, he’s called himself “Little Hands of Concrete”. As a shite guitarist but quite good songwriter myself, I can relate to that.
He never makes anyone’s Top 50 Guitarist polls, but he’d scrape into mine. Of all his talents, it’s the least talked about. So?. Anyone rate him?

Well I never thought I’d ever think this, BUT New Zealand has a got as good a music scene, these days as anywhere, it seems. It’s Kiwi Music Month. Every May, for the last few years, this is a thing this country does. But the inferiority complex has gone. Now, we’re insulted it’s just a month. For instance these acts

Rene Louise Carafice (think Polly Harvey with a Casio)
Street Chant
Heart Attack Alley
Little Bushman
Anika Moa
The Adults
Trinity Roots
Phoenix Foundation
DelGirl
TFF
Pumice/The Coolies
The Eversons
The Checks
Will Crummer
There’s heaps more. The above just from top of my head, & all as good as anything Britain is doing right now.

I’ve just finished a wonderful new novel called ‘The Collaborator’ by Mirza Waheed. It’s all about a sad, disturbing at times, but ultimately human tragedy set in Kashmir, the disputed land between India & Pakistan. It’s set in the early 1990’s.
It got me thinking about the lyrics to the Led Zeppelin… um… classic?, ‘Kashmir’

..."Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face, stars fill my dreams
I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been
To sit with elders of the gentle race, this world has seldom seen
They talk of days for which they sit and wait, all will be revealed

Talk and song from tongues of lilting grace, sounds caress my ears
But not a word I heard could I relay, the story was quite clear
Ohh
(Chorus)

Oh, oh
Oh, oh

Oooh, baby I've been flying...Mama, there ain't no denyin'
Oooh yeah, I've been flying, Mama ain't no denyin', no denyin'

All I see turns to brown, as the sun burns the ground
And my eyes fill with sand, as I scan this wasted land
Tryin' to find....Tryin' to find where I've been.

Oh, pilot of the storm that leaves no trace, like thoughts inside a dream
Heed the path that led me to that place, yellow desert stream
My Shangri-La beneath the summer moon, I will return again
Like the dust that lufts high in June, when moving through Kashmir.

Oh, father of the four winds, fill my sails, across the sea of years
With no provision but an open face, along the straits of fear
Ohh
(Chorus)

When I'm on, when I'm on my way, yeah
When I see, when I see the way they stay, yeah

Ooh, yeah-yeah, ooh, yeah-yeah, when I'm down...
Ooh, yeah-yeah, ooh, yeah-yeah, well I'm down, so down
Ooh, my baby, oooh, my baby, let me take you there

Let me take you there
Let me take you there..."

I mean, what are these lyrics about? Genuine allusions/commentary on a troubled land?. Or just dippy, hippy whimsy from spoilt drug influenced musicians in a priviledged position?
What do you think?

I admire & occasionally love Led Zep. However their lyrics can be puerile, meaningless &/or shallow, & very rarely, if at all profound. Robert Plant is an interesting, articulate & decent man it seems., but I can’t quite rate them as one of the true greats.

OK.. here's my starter for 10...

In the Year 2525 - Zager & Evans
The Desiderata - Les Crane
We built this city - Jefferson Starship
Lady in Red - Chris de Burgh
The Green Berets - Sgt Barry Sadler
Where do you go to, my lovely? - Peter Sarstedt
Stars on 45 - Stars on 45
Sometimes when we touch - Dan Hill
A Horse with no name - America
Vienna - Ultravox

I got asked, yesterday, by a Mum with kids aged under 10, “what’s good music for children?”. My kids are both over 18 now, but I straightaway answered ‘Louis Jordan & the Tympany Five’. My children grew up with a marvelous ‘best of’ double vinyl album, & they both just loved it. ‘Boogie In the Barnyard’, ‘Ain’t Nobody here but us chickens’, ‘Beans & Cornbread’, ‘Saturday night Fish Fry’, etc. I can’t recommend enough.

Quite by chance, I’d also borrowed an album, the day before, called ‘You’re nice people, you are’, by NRBQ, because I’m writing an article about them. It happens to be their childrens album. My kids never heard it , but it’s marvelous. Unpatronising, funny, cracking Rock’n’Roll tunes, espousing the joys of encyclopedias, music lessons, swimming pool safety, St Patricks day & sleep.

“You always hear people talk about “Oh, I’m all about the corner where art & commerce meet”. Bullshit. There is no such address. They may collide, but they don’t intersect”. – Big Al Anderson, former guitarist for NRBQ.

Massive discussion?

Why didn’t Mozart have a lead singer? Ella Fitzgerald & Bach could have probably had a good ‘groove thang’ happening. Anyway, I digress… instrumental hits?

Albatross – Fleetwood Mac
The Shadows… (take your pick)
Raunchy – Duane Eddy
Take 5 – Dave Brubeck
Groovin’ with Mr Bloe – Mr Bloe
Double Barrel –Dave & Ansell Collins (yeah, I count this)
Time is Tight – Booker T & The MGs (but take your pick)
Classical Gas – Mason Williams
Tequila – The Champs
Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass… (take your pick)

I can think of heaps of other good ‘uns, but they’re mainly 60’s or earlier, & just can’t think of that many after then (re-iterate they’ve got to be hits). It could be a sleeping genre, just waiting to be roused. Any readers agree?

And speaking of my colon! I want you to know
I don't automatically wash my hands every time
I go to the bathroom! OK?
Can you deal with that? Sometimes I do,
sometimes I don't!
You know when I wash my hands?
When I shit on them!
That's the only time!
And you know how often that happens?

Tops! Tops! Two, three times a week! Tops!
Maybe a little more frequently over
the holidays, you know what I mean?
And I'll tell you something else,
my well-scrubbed friends...
You don't always need a shower every day!
Did you know that? It's overkill!
Unless you work out! Or work outdoors...
...or for some reason come in intimate contact
with huge amounts of filth and garbage every day...

...you don't always need a shower! All you really
need to do is to wash the four key areas!
Armpits, asshole, crotch and teeth! Got that?
Armpits, asshole, crotch and teeth!
In fact, you can save yourself a lot of time if you
simply use the same brush on all four areas!
Thank you!

I’m new to this site. I don’t know how to check your archives, but has there ever been an NRBQ thread on this site. If so, The Word is as good as I think it is. If not?.. shame.. but I’ll take great pride in starting one. Just for starters, Terry Adams is “an untamed genius of the keyboards”. There must be a few of you out there who know this for a fact.. Matt Groening, for one, does.