Have Guitar Will Travel - Marc Ribot

Probably the first time I encountered Marc Ribot’s guitar work was when I bought Tom Wait’s Rain Dogs, and the second time when he appeared on the Live In Tokyo - Big Heart album of The Lounge Lizards.
To me that put him clearly in the ‘not your usual gitarist’ section which made him only more interesting.

Over the years I noticed Ribot steering towards ‘avant garde’ jazz - often playing with John Zorn - resulting in rather unsettling listening experiences, not really my cup of tea.
But somehow I did see his name popping up on all kinds of records and slowly began to realize that Ribot is a instrumental force to be reckoned with.
Besides Waits, the Lizards, and Zorn, Ribot’s guitar work can also be found on tracks by Elvis Costello, Solomon Burke, Brother Jack McDuff, Marianne Faithfull, Medeski Martin & Wood, Caetano Veloso and Hal Willner, among many others.
Whether he paying tribute to Frantz Casseus, helping out his old Lizard buddy John Lurie, or going wild with his Ceramic Dog band, Ribot remains unique and surprisingly enough until now no attempt has been made to showcase this talent…
Therefore we hope you will appreciate this carefully selected overview.
This 2 CD set includes the following artists & bands:
The Lounge Lizards, Tom Waits, Tanita Tikaram, Caetano Veloso , Gavin Friday feat. The Man Seezer, Syd Straw, David Sanborn, Evan Lurie, The Jazz Passengers, Rob Wasserman feat. Elvis Costello, Arto Lindsay, Sam Phillips, Marc Ribot y Los Cubanos Postizos, Marvin Pontiac, Bill Ware, Sheryl Crow, Susana Baca, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Ceramic Dog, Marianne Faithfull, Elton John & Leon Russell, John Zorn, Imelda May, Big Lazy, Mdou Moctar, and Tuomo & Markus.

More Punks Play Stones

 

The last Punks Play Stones post got some good responses, so here's another set with many of the suggestions received from andreyud, J in Europe, and Richard (plus my leftovers from the first volume).  Koen provided the delectable cover image at left.

This set ventures beyond the first decade of punk, as well as outside the standard definition of punk as a genre.  There are some OG's here (Richard Hell, Joe Strummer, The Damned, Chelsea, UK Subs) and some LA punks (TSOL, Mad Parade, Social Distortion, Redd Kross). There's also some power pop from The Records and Tommy Keene, some great bands from the Nineties and the Oughties, and some old folkies what once were punks (Mekons and Nikki Sudden).  

Speaking of the mighty Mekons, those loveable lads and lasses from Leeds are touring the US next month to promote their new album Horror.  Jon Langford, Tom Greenhalgh, Sally Timms, Lu Edmonds, Susie Honeyman, Rico Bell, Steve Goulding and Dave Trumfio are the current Mekons.  

It's been a few weeks since any triple song titles have been posted here, so here's Lies Lies Lies -- a set of 30+ punk triples for anyone who hasn't gotten all their ya ya ya's out. Bon appetit!  

TISH! That's FRENCH! - Gomez Addams' Babymaking Music

TISH! That’s FRENCH Volume 1 was well-received & readers suggested tons of great tracks for inclusion.  Volume 2 was already done, but reader’s suggestions will be incorporated in the next two entries in the series.

During my early obsession with songs with French lyrics BLONDIE’s French Version of Sunday Girl definitely supplied some wind for my sails.  I don’t think I realized ABBA recorded Waterloo in French until much later.  Nous Non Plus sing L'Amant in their traditional bastardized French, but I only know that from a review I read.  Being an average American, I’m barely unilingual.

This sort of undertaking wouldn’t be worth much if it didn’t include Plastic Bertrand’s Ça Plane Pour Moi—the second ever French language single in the Billboard Top 100 (where it peaked at number 47).  There’s a lot of controversy over whether or not Plastic Bertrand even sang on the track. Some say he didn’t show up to the recording studio on time, and the producer Lou Deprijck laid his vocal down over the existing track.  But, the song’s been covered many times, and in many ways.  Elton Motello released it as Jet Boy, Jet Girl which was later Captain Sensible’s first single (released during a Damned hiatus).

I’ve mentioned my nephew in regards to how he was instrumental in the evolution of my LOOSE! series.  But sharing music is never a one-way street. He turned me onto three great bands: Sigur Rós, Fountains Of Wayne, & Stereolab who supply Pop Quiz.  They’ll almost certainly be represented on every installment, as will Franciose Hardy—even her husband Jacques Dutronc makes an appearance on Volume 2.  

Other chanteuses include Sylvie Vartan, Lesley Gore, & Charlotte Leslie, who croons Les Filles C'est Fait.  She had a pre-fame release Tu es pris au piège under the pseudonym Catherine Alfa that’ll probably pop up on a future comp.  That’s not to say that all the French artists enclosed are from days gone by.  Les Negresses Vertes (which translates to “Green Black Girls”) recorded throughout the 90’s, and Juliette Armanet’s A La Folie is from 2017, as is Sara’h’s French language version of The Cranberries’ Zombie that’s a real treat.

French artists love recording English language hits in their love language. Probably the leading exporter of was “The French Elvis” Johnny Hallyday, who kicks ass like a six legged goat on his version of Chuck Berry’s Carol.  Other entries include the Eddy Mitchell vehicle Les Chaussettes Noires, Ronny Bird, & Les Lionceaux (The Lion Cubs).

After seeing Les Rita Mitsouko on MTV’s 120 Minutes, I grabbed everything I found by them. The last track on this edition; Marcia Balla is maybe my second-favorite song by them.

Song Book: John Cale

His name is Cale, but you can call him John.

He never wrote a song called Cocaine, and he never wrote a song called After Midnight…

He rose to fame as a member of The Velvet Underground where his writings were often overshadowed by the obvious giant.

Nevertheless, he has made music with numerous artists, producing albums for The Stooges, Nico, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Modern Lovers, Happy Mondays, Squeeze, Jennifer, Chunky Novi & Ernie, Modern Guy and a lot more.

For this songbook we selected only Non-Velvet songs, but occasional collaborations with Eno or Riley were allowed.

 

Thus wrote our regular visitor and commentator Richard!

Earlier this month he contacted Jonder with the proposal of doing a John Cale Song Book, which after some checking seemed like a great idea as it turns out that his songs have been covered by loads of bands and artists, but no attempt was ever made to gather some of these for a Tribute or Cale Covered album!

As I started the Song Book series we decided it would make sense (if that’s the right word!) that I would work this out with him and make a selection out of the 80+ songs he’d shared with us!

Not an easy task, but the results (spread across 2 CDs) speak for themselves.

Artists include:  

Rob de Nijs, Hackney Five-O, Chris Spedding, Mathilde Santing, Yo La Tengo, SF Seals, Sally Timms, Peter Whitehead, Alejandro Escovedo, My Friend The Chocolate Cake, Roddy Frame, CCC, Extra Virgin Mary, The Teardrop Explodes, The Heliocentrics, Okkervil River, Mark Lanegan, AJ Lambert, Alex Rex
Ja, Panik, Genya Ravan, The Dolphins, Dom Dummaste, David J, Barkmarket, Sol Invictus, Sugar Ray, The Wave Pictures, Dar Nahmias, The Ladybug Transistor, Experimental Products, Cheap Time, Aisha Orazbayeva, Dark Blue, Superchunk, Ratso, Chicken Snake, Allá

Punks Play Stones (plus more Soul Queens)

 

adapted from an Ottilie Simpson photograph

Here's a collection of punk and pub rock bands doing Stones songs.  "Satisfaction" and "Street Fighting Man" are here twice, in very different versions.  Some big hits are here, as well as some deep cuts from the early Stones' records.  If there's any interest in a second volume, I've found loads of more recent punk style Stones covers.  This set covers the decade from 1976 to 1985.

Here too is a sequel to Stoned Soul Queens, with performances that didn't make the first set (either for reasons of space or because another cover version was chosen).  This set includes more than one version of the same song.  Some are more recent recordings (later than the 1960's or 1970's); and there are two songs included that the Stones didn't write.  Thanks to the readers who shared suggestions on the previous post.  Hope you enjoy this one!

Song Book: J.J. Cale

J.J. Cale’s first album Naturally was released in 1971 and attracted a lot of attention in the Netherlands, no hits, but an artist worth paying attention to.

It would have been cool perhaps to say that I was a Cale fan from the beginning, but truth to be told he was nowhere on my musical radar at the time.

I guess it was several years later when I received his ’5’ album as a birthday present that turned me onto his laid back guitar playing and singing style right away. 

As a result I started backtracking, bought his earlier albums (all on Shelter Records), and started following his career.

His last album I bought was 1982’s Grasshopper, his first one for Mercury Records, but not much difference in style, except perhaps for the 2 instrumentals; Grasshopper and Dr. Jive.

Due to my move from Netherlands to Thailand, I lost track a bit of Cale, but still found a few new albums (on bootleg cassettes) occasionally.

Cale passed away in 2013 and Eric Clapton paid respect 1 year later by recording a tribute album: The Breeze: An Appreciation of JJ Cale

Cale was more than happy to see what other artists could make of his music. "I kind of write songs hoping that musicians will take them and make them better and more accessible," he said.

Clapton changed Cale’s career massively by turning his After Midnight and Cocaine into rock standards.

"I'd probably be selling shoes today if it wasn't for Eric," Cale said in 2006.

Despite the Clapton Appreciation and 2 volumes of Tribute to J.J. Cale (2010) no compilation has been released of his earlier covered work…

This seemed a good reason for JOKONKY to jump in again and rectify this poor state of affairs.

Cale’s songs were covered as soon as he released Naturally and this got repeated which each succeeding album for a while.

Whereas Cale liked to keep his songs as laid back as possible, the cover versions usually added quite a bit of instrumentation on top.

Even so several hits were the results, besides the already mentioned Clapton covers, Lynyrd Skynyrd was successful with Call Me The Breeze and Santana didn’t do too bad either with The Sensitive Kind.

While researching possible covers I was very surprised by digging up a few Dutch ones, I knew already about Rob Hoeke & Alan Price covering Cale, but new were both Liesbeth List and Herman Brood & His Wild Romance to me!

Even weirder, Dutch singer Cornelis Vreeswijk spent considerable time playing in Sweden and recorded After Midnight and Clyde in Swedish…

Oh, we got a French version of After as well, complete with Cale on guitar!

Also intriguing, in Jamaica The Pioneers recorded a track called Let It All Hang Out in 1971, supposedly written by someone named Cunningham, but it’s obviously a reggaefied version of After Midnight!

Indian singer Asha Puthli recorded 2 covers (Lies and Right Down Here) in 1973 which add a new twist to Cale songs, not to mention the wild Psychemagik Remix of Right Down Here!

Most Cocaine covers follow the Clapton one which is a shame really, but I did manage to dig up 3 very different versions; Nazareth live, an Italian disco band called Eric’s Friends, and Earl 16 does it reggae.

Spread out across 2 volumes you’ll find a wide variety of Cale covers that should make it clear once and for all that he was a cool song writer as well!

SHA LA LA #2 - It's not the FIRST, & it won't be the SHA LA LAST!

Jon is hard at work in the JOKONKY laboratories, and since I’ve got a surplus of completed CD-length comps, today’s share SHA LA LA #2 comes from The One Who Stinks.

The Grass Roots are first off the line with Let's Live For Today, Manfred Mann follows suit with Sha La La, & Small Faces go them one better with Sha-La-La-La-Lee (a song they didn’t want to record that turned out great!)

Jay Ferguson practically sets the standard for songs with SHA LA LA in them with his irresistible Thunder Island.  The Carpenters flex hard & add some whoa-whoa-woh’s to Yesterday Once More.  Movie stars Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper’s contribution; Shallow was captured live at The Oscars.  

Anyone familiar with Stinky Productions won’t be surprised to discover a Ringo Starr track, or one by The Kinks.  Less frequently represented are John Frusciante, Babybird, & The Pipettes.  

And Billie Joe Armstrong, Eddie Angel, & Rhett Miller step out on their respective groups with wonderful results.

SHA LA LA #1 turned out well, and SHA LA LA #2 might even be better!

Don’t be the Sha La Last one on your block to grab it!