Posts Tagged ‘Queen’

Cornershop

Saturday, April 14th, 2012

Listen: Brimful Of Asha (Norman Cook Remix) / Cornershop
Brimful

Went to my first Knick’s game at Madison Square Garden last week. Well, in full disclosure, went to my first ever professional basketball game. As a whole, the event was flawlessly slick, very big time and an absolute wildcard of fun. It’s music programming, both intricate and super tightly timed out, literally crested the audience into cheers of excitement repeatedly. Very impressive.

I was ready to hear bits of Queen ‘We Will Rock You’ and The Ramones ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’, but not ‘Brimful Of Asha’. In all honesty, I wasn’t expecting, even in my wildest, to hear anything by Cornershop. Seriously, it took me by such surprise, but the sing-a-long really was the shocker. Wow, did this record sound ever so great in that huge room.

The original band version of ‘Brimful Of Asha’ fell rather flat upon release and was basically on life support until Wiija, the label, or maybe their manager or hopefully the band, had the magic idea of a timely remix. Luckily, Cornershop were groovy enough in that moment to sway a very in-demand Norman Cook toward reinvention. Credit where credit is due, he and his remix made a world of difference, turning the song into both a hit, and dare I say, the definitive version thereafter.

T. Rex

Thursday, June 2nd, 2011

Listen: I Love To Boogie / T. Rex
I Love To Boogie / T. Rex

Everyone loves Marc Bolan. If you don’t, then you are not being honest with yourself. He made so many great records, never stopped trying in the early rejection years, and became a advocator for punk as it overtook glam in the later years. He didn’t get into that us-against-them frame of mind. Instead, he found love and warmth for the new voice of youth. He was never going to grow old. Did any of his peers invite The Damned on tour? We all know the answer.

‘I Love To Boogie’ was called throwaway by singles critics in the weekly UK music press. But critics tend to try dragging you into their poor, frustrated and unpleasant misery….if you let them.

‘I Love To Boogie’ has stood the test of time. It’s simplicity now a greater power than the most produced, orchestrated and probably commercially more successful tracks at the time by the likes of, say, Queen, The Electric Light Orchestra and Toto too.

Just as with Prince’s ‘Sign Of The Times’ or ‘Kiss’, less is more. Way, way more.

Heart

Saturday, August 21st, 2010

Listen: Barracuda / Heart HeartB.mp3

Heart had the bad timing of critical mass appeal around ’77, just as punk was our religion. Talk about a jinx. Heart were helium coated, corporate, Lee Abrams AOR gack. They were literally nauseating. And loathed. Well, not by the masses, but those of us who felt we were in the know, with proper taste.

In hindsight, they were fascinating, for every sonic reason listed above. Now their glistening studio perfection is bizarrely intoxicating, addictive even, very much like the Roy Thomas Baker Queen productions and almost alien.

As with most of the big bands of the day, the ones radio rammed down our throats (REO Speedwagon, Journey, The Doobie Brothers), I always ended up having a guilty pleasure or two by each and every one. Heart were no exception.

Listen: Nothin’ At All / Heart Heart.mp3

I absolutely loved ‘Nothin’ At All’, right down to the apostrophy in it’s title, mainstream turned up to eleven production and all. Then there’s the picture on the sleeve. A styling faux pas representing everything that had gone horribly wrong with American AOR radio. Indeed, it exemplified why it eroded music as an important part of US culture. But I loved that single. Still do – more than ever actually.

Somewhere in the mid/late 90′s, there was a benefit at The Ritz, after it’s relocation uptown to where Studio 54 was once housed. Don’t recall the cause, but the headliners were Joey Ramone and the Wilson sisters from Heart. They had a side project at that time: The Lovemongers. And that’s who played on this occasion.

I went along with Joe. He had a bunch of friends backing him that night, playing some classics by other bands as well as a few from The Ramones, and was kinda in an ‘everyone come along for a laugh and a few beers’ mood.

Heart’s original road manager, Kelly Curtis, who went on to manage Pearl Jam, was with Ann and Nancy. Kelly and I became great friends in the early 90′s. He helped me out in life when I really needed it – in a big way and I’m always thrilled to see him, particularly as this was very unexpected (I think he was passing through town that day – or something). So he invited me into to meet Nancy and Ann.

By now, my venom for their music had long past, and it was a pleasure to sit and talk with these two incredibly lovely people. At one point, trying to make an extreme point, I quantified it with, “but don’t mind me, I love Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick & Tich”. Ann sits straight up and exclaims ‘I love Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick & Tich too’. Instant fast friends. We dug into songs, details and how we first heard them – as fans do. Somewhere in the conversation mix, I mention my other, at that time, obsession: Sunbeam mixers. Nancy’s guitar tech, in the room at that moment, whips round and says “You’re into Sunbeam – me too”. Ann says “He really is – show him”. So this guy takes off his T shirt, turns his back to me and proudly displays a ton of Sunbeam toaster tattoos across his torso. All the classic models.

Yes, hard to believe but every word of the above is true.

Queen

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

Listen: Crazy Little Thing Called Love / Queen QueenCrazy.mp3

After their first few singles, and by ’76, Queen officially resided in the ‘not friendly to punk rock’ space. Their music and image fitted totally with the helium sound and mustached look of US AOR radio – so not only did my attention wander, but in fact they were now considered the enemy.

Well I was wrong and my defiance softened. To be fair, they admittedly had singles all along that were secret pleasures. The video for ‘I Want To Break Free’ was a riot and a lot of our crowd realized, these guys are actually okay. Plus who is anyone, least of all me, to deny ‘Under Pressure’ or ‘Radio Ga Ga’?

Vividly remember that moment I sat up and really took notice. It was on an uneventful Saturday evening, watching SNL, as Queen literally unleashed one of TV’s best ever live music performances. ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, with the added keyboardist (anyone know who that is?) decimated any previous prejudice. A mad dash to the wall shelf followed, checking the Queen 7″ collection – and the filling-in process began the very next morning, bright and early, when I hit the garage sales then moving on to The Record Archive’s backroom.

I turned to Corinne, jaw dropped, spurting out some exclamation. She was nonplussed by Queen during those days, exactly like the rest of us, but in her typical smooth one-up way simply said, and this is an exact quote: “I always loved Queen”. Right.