Zip It! The Final Frontier

 

Now it is 2024, knock-knockin' at your front door -- it's Stinky and me, in our finest suede and denim with the final (?) volume of Zip It.  We've had fun coming up with songs for this series, but we've got new themes and compilation concepts in the pipeline. 

They say never say never, but this one has just about run its course. Out with the old, and in with the new!

But please don't think of Zip It #6 as a plate of holiday leftovers -- consider it a freshly prepared smorgasbord of rockabilly, country, soul, blues, funk, punk, garage rock, power pop and more, served up by your chef and mixmaster, Monsieur Le Pew.

Artists range from Patti Smith to The Harry Smiths! Old school country singer Loretta Lynn meets the new school's Kasey Musgraves!  OG punks like The Dead Kennedys kick it with young punks like SLC's Endless Struggle and Noo Yawk's Every Time I Die! 

1980's hitmakers Talking Heads, The Pretenders, and TV's own Rick Springfield rock out with young whippersnappers like Savages (UK), The On And Ons (AUS), and Shpongle (WTF).  Who? Them! And it's War!

Melody masters Smokey Robinson and Bette Midler sing sweetly alongside Orville Fox And The Harmony Masters! You get the idea.  At Jon-Ky Records, not every Joe Blow makes the cut -- but Joe And The Blows do.

Zip, Zip, Zip, Zip, Zip

 

Zip It #5 is here, so be of good cheer.  In this series, Prof. LePew and I continue our exhaustive survey of the history of popular music, searching for songs about people puttin' people down.  

It isn't always a putdown to suggest that someone keep shtum. Sometimes the kindest advice is to hold one's tongue.  Honest Abe once said that it is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.  Michelle Shocked wrote, "Silence is golden/ And words are made of lead/ And in the alchemy of love, you know/ Some things are better left unsaid." And she knows a lot about paying the price of silence.

Back to the music: in the zip file for today's Zip It!, you'll find punk rock, country, soul, R&B, a couple of pop idols, and even some of that grrrungy "complaint rock" that was all the rage in the mid-90's.  But only a little!  

The wonderful Dubhed blog was the inspiration for two of the tracks, as Khayem suggested the mashup "Shut Up Let's Hook Up", and Stinky fell in love with The Anchoress' version of "Enjoy The Silence" (which was featured on Dubhed).  "Honey Hush" appears once again (this time by Johnny Burnette's Rock & Roll Trio).  I think I suggested "Don't Start Me Talkin" and the "Shut Up" songs by the Drive-By Truckers, The Coathangers, and Jr. Walker's All-Stars.

In the words of the internet's favorite music blogger, "Gitit! (no pw)" -- and stay tuned for another episode of Zip It!  Or something entirely different.  We're flexible.

Return of the Son of the Bride of ZIP IT!

 

Hope you're not tired of songs in the key of Z, or the lyrical theme of shutting up.  I thought Volume 4 would be the conclusion of this series.  Good news: Stinky is putting the finishing touches on one more Zip It compilation!

I had more input on this one than the previous sets in the series.  It was Stinky's brainchild, and he had a bevy of great tracks.  I finally put on my internet detective hat (see picture at left) and sent him about 20 titles.  That's not Stinky being pistol-whipped, by the way.

Most of them are here, and Stinky rounded out the tracklist for a solid two dozen tunes that (once again) range from blues and country to funk, punk and surf!  And you thought you'd never hear surf music again?  Let us land our Jon-Ky machine... 

I don't know exactly what Stinky has lined up for Volume 5, although he confirmed that it will include Khayem's excellent suggestion.  That's been part of the fun: surprising each other with artists and songs (or reminding each other: "Why didn't I remember that one?")  I didn't know the Elois, the Jamies, the Deltas, or Billy Strings, for example.

We will return to our regular programming after the next Zip It, unless you blog readers suddenly flood the comments with suggestions. Among other things, there are series planned on the themes of celebrities and clowns.  Now that I think about it, the Venn diagram on those two themes might overlap more than a little.  Speaking of celebrities, Billy Bob Thornton makes an appearance in today's tracklist!  Now that's entertainment!

Zip It, Zip It, Zip It!

 

The series continues with another volume of songs about lowering your voice, hushing your mouth, zipping your lip and just plain shuttin' up!

Stinky's served up a few names that are new to me: Western Sizzlers (with Rick Richards from the Georgia Satellites), Brides of Destruction (with Motley Crue and LA Guns members), Walk The Moon, and Japanese garage punks the Fadeaways.

There's blues, country, punk, funk, soul, new wave, hip hop -- but wait, stop the presses!  This just in:  I've been informed by a reliable authority that there is no such thing as new wave.  As it turns out, there was never any such thing as new wave! 

According to our source, "new wave" was just the polite thing to say when you were trying to explain you were not into the boring old rock ‘n’ roll but you didn’t dare to say punk because you were afraid to get kicked out of the party and they wouldn’t give you coke anymore. 

There’s new music, there’s new underground sound, there’s noise, there’s punk, there’s power pop, there’s ska, there’s rockabilly -- and now there's Stinky's latest smorgasbord of sound, nearly two dozen slices of tongue biting tuneage.  Shut up and dig in, already.

ZIP IT -- Part 2!

 

This one is about 75% Stinky (including the cover art).  My suggestions were (predictably) the "post punk" songs by the Residents, the Banshees, and the Buttholes.  The NRBQ version of "Honey Hush" is also my fault. Stinky said we should have gone with art58koen's recommendation of the original by Big Joe Turner, but Zip It! Volume 2 was already finished before the first one was posted. Can't help it, I just love to hear Big Al Anderson shout the blues!

Speaking of punk, Stinky made the inspired decision to include the Sex Pistols' version of "Don't Give Me No Lip, Child". Check out last year's Steppingstones comp here on t'blog to hear Dave Berry's original! 

Jonderblog fave raves The Flamin' Groovies also appear, with "Don't You Lie To Me" (which was written by Tampa Red and adapted by Chuck Berry).  Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Bettye Lavette are among the other fine entertainers on board for this fabulous sequel to the first volume of Zip It!

 

When I saw the tracklist, I thought for sure that "Bitchin' In The Kitchen" was a cover of the song from Shock Treatment, the 1981 film followup to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  But I was mistaken -- it's a spunky original by the singing siblings Kitty, Daisy & Lewis! 

At the 2:25 mark in this video from Shock Treatment, a young Rik Mayall appears between Brad & Janet -- but it's not the original Brad & Janet (dammit!), and the "Bitchin' In The Kitchen" that they sing isn't the "Bitchin' In The Kitchen" that you will hear on today's compilation.  Confused? You won't be after this week's episode of ZIP IT!

ZIP IT! Volume 1

Stinky and I often trade ideas for compilations.  A few don't fly, but others really take wing.  He recently started compiling songs with "Shut Up" as the title (or theme).  

As they say in the entertainment biz, I had notes.  We traded emails and text messages, and pretty soon we had enough songs for four volumes of this foolishness.  

Zip It! is the title of the series.  Shutting your mouth (or someone else's) is the theme.  And as Steve Earle once put it, you know the rest.

I suspect that Stinky was inspired by "Word To The Wise" from his recent Bill Kirchen compilations.  I think I suggested The Monks, "Hush", and "Our Lips Are Sealed".  

This first set includes a number of artists previously featured in this blog: Chuck Berry, Joan Jett, Dr. Feelgood, Fun Boy Three, Bill "Dieselbilly" Kirchen, and Pearl Harbour (the patron saint of Jonderblog).  Great news: Pearl is performing with a new band called Pearl Harbour Country!

Blog readers have reported dead links for the 2010 Comeback Special, Eva Cassidy, the Talk Box compilations, Stinky's tribute to Stiv Bators, and the RFTT/Ubu Waffle House At Walden Pond.  New links have been posted.

Enjoy our first Zip It collaboration!  There are several more to come.  If you have any song suggestions (or other dead links to report), don't keep your mouth shut -- share them in the comments!