Video Du Jour: The Who

Lest we forget – The Who may be the greatest rock and roll band of all time. Here’s “So Sad About Us,” from 1967’s A Quick One (or for Americans, Happy Jack). Keith Moon and John Entwistle, R.I.P.

Yow! The Best Rock and Roll Screams

Roger Daltrey of The Who

Our greatest rockers are people who apparently never used their “indoor voice.” Why should they? They were future rockers! Anyhow, the other day I was thinking that the one ingredient basic to any good rock and roll song – besides a guitar solo, of course – is a blood-curdling scream.

It could be an expression of rage and defiance, like Roger Daltrey’s classic scream at the end of “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” or it can be a cathartic release of pain and frustration, like John Lennon in “Well Well Well.” Screams can be ominous and threatening, like Axl Rose in “Welcome To The Jungle” or it can be just plain weird and inexplicable, like Jim Morrison in “When The Music’s Over.”

Screams can be old and trailblazing: Bo Diddley and Little Richard loved to scream, although Richard’s were more like a shriek and Bo’s were more like a holler. They can be punk (The Stooges), they can be metal (Iron Maiden), they can be funny (Tenacious D) or they can be very soulful (Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett). As Eddie Murphy once said about James Brown’s famous scream, “He wrote that.”

So let’s celebrate the weekend with a dozen cool rockin’ screams. Turn it up!

MP3: “Welcome To The Jungle” (live) by Guns N’ Roses

MP3: “Shout Bamalama” by Eddie Hinton

MP3: “Run Diddley Daddy” by Bo Diddley

MP3: “Get Up Offa That Thing” by James Brown

MP3: “TV Eye” by The Stooges

MP3: “Piece Of My Heart (live) by Big Brother and the Holding Company

MP3: “Tutti Frutti” by Little Richard

MP3: “I Can’t Turn You Loose” by Edgar Winter’s White Trash

MP3: “Hold On To Your Hiney” by Wilson Pickett

MP3: “Well Well Well” by John Lennon

MP3: “When The Music’s Over” (live) by The Doors

MP3: “Won’t Get Fooled Again” by The Who

YouTube: Greatest Rock Screams (thanks to GuyFaux2007)

Rock and Roll Identity Crisis

Axl Rose with guitarist DJ Ashba, ostensibly Slash's replacement - is it really GNR?

Walking into Houston’s Toyota Center for the big Guns N’ Roses show last week, we overheard people asking each other incredulously: “Slash is NOT with them???” Well, no. The guitarist left in 1996, on not-so-friendly terms with lead singer Axl Rose. As did pretty much all of the other original band members. So who was playing that Friday night in Houston?

Was it Axl and a bunch of no-name scabs? Hardly – this version of Guns N’ Roses can certainly deliver the goods and is totally worthy of the name. But what happens when other popular rock groups hit the road with just one or two original members in tow? Is it still the same group we know and love?

Lynyrd Skynyrd's current guitar lineup includes (from left) Rickey Medlocke, Sparky Matjeka, original member Gary Rossington and bassist Robert Kearns.

Just a week before GNR, we saw Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top in Austin. Skynyrd has had more attrition than any other rock band in memory, after a plane crash that killed original lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and his sister and backup singer Cassie Gaines. Other original members have also died or retired; the current Skynyrd lineup contains only one original member, guitarist Gary Rossington.

Skynyrd became stars in 1973 with their debut album, so the crash meant that the classic lineup was in the national limelight for only about four years. The new Skynyrd lineup has been together, with various members, since 1987. So is it Lynyrd Skynyrd? Probably it’s a really good tribute band – paying tribute to itself.

In some cases it’s clear cut: it can never be the Rolling Stones unless Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts are involved, but if John Fogerty hired a new rhythm section and toured as Creedence, why not? If Van Halen tours with David Lee Roth, the only person who may dispute the authenticity would be Sammy Hagar, sitting in his living room. Classic ’70s bands Foreigner and Journey hired new lead singers and have both re-recorded their old hits – Walmart shoppers picking up the new CDs probably don’t know, or don’t care.

It gets stickier with bands with well-known, or even beloved, members playing behind the lead singer. Can Bruce Springsteen tour without Clarence Clemons and still call it the E Street Band? Heartbreaking as that may be, that’s probably what he will do. If Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine and Bruce Johnston hit the road next year, can they still call themselves the Beach Boys? Probably. The Kinks? Only if Ray and Dave Davies are both on board.

What's Bruce Springsteen gonna do without Clarence Clemons?

Some years ago David Gilmour fronted a Pink Floyd lineup that included original members Rick Wright and Nick Mason, but not Roger Waters. It worked for millions, if not for Roger. The Who have been diminished by half, but Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend still sell a lot of tickets under the Who banner. If Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones can talk Robert Plant into a tour, Led Zeppelin will most certainly pack ’em in.

And I suppose that’s what it all boils down to: will the audience accept a lineup that isn’t original? Ask Axl Rose, while he’s counting the gate receipts from the current Guns N’ Roses tour, and the answer is yes – in some cases.

– Denny Angelle

YouTube: Guns N’ Roses playing “Sweet Child O’ Mine” in Houston (the sound is horrible, but you can see it was a crowd favorite).

This one’s MUCH better – “Welcome To The Jungle” on 11/17 in New Jersey

Son of Son of Halloween

Face it, Halloween isn’t very scary.  It’s usually pretty funny – this year there will be people dressed up like characters from Harry Potter, or as Charlie Sheen, or maybe even Arnold Schwarzenegger or Rick Perry or Ron Paul.  Surely some women will dress to emulate Lady Gaga, or maybe even Amy Winehouse or Kate Middleton.  Then there will be that one guy who will dress up as Anthony Weiner with a crucial part of his costume enhanced (or removed).  Ha, ha.  As I said, real funny.

Here is the best Halloween blog I’ve ever seen: Magic Carpet Burn

MP3: “The Munsters” by Billy Strange

MP3: “Tubular Bells” (excerpt) by Mike Oldfield

MP3: “Werewolf Women of the SS” by Rob Zombie

MP3: “Graveyard” by the Blenders

MP3: “Nightmare” by the Abstracts

MP3: “Let Me Hear You Scream” (live) by Ozzy Osbourne

MP3: “Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde” by the Who

MP3: “Creature With The Atom Brain” by Roky Erickson & the Aliens

MP3: “Werewolves Of London” by Warren Zevon

MP3: “Dig Up Her Bones” by the Misfits

Halloween Rock

After Christmas, the most sung-about observance has to be Halloween. Of course, Halloween isn’t as popular among kids today as it was when we were younger. You can thank uptight elementary school principals and square-nuts church preachers for that.

Even the art of the Halloween rock and roll song seems to have faded into the mists of oblivion. Except … we now have this wonderful internet which lets us find these obscurities and share them in all their rockin’ glory. Here we go, Halloween’s not for a couple of weeks now so expect a few more posts like this.

MP3: “Halloween” by Helloween

MP3: “Astro Zombies” by the Misfits

MP3: “Transylvania Twist” by Baron Daemon & The Vampires

MP3: “Ghouls Gone Wild” by Alice Cooper

MP3: “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by the Who

MP3: “Phantom of the Opera” by Iron Maiden

MP3: “Mummified in Bongwater” by Cannabis Corpse

MP3: “Dance of Doom” by Frankie Stein & His Ghouls

MP3: “Red Temple Prayer (Two Headed Dog)” by Roky Erickson & the Aliens

MP3: “There’s A Creature in Surfer’s Lagoon”  by the Deadly Ones

MP3: “Graveyard” by the Blenders

MP3: “Werewolf, Baby!” by Rob Zombie

Welcome to Hell … or Houston – it’s all the same

It was this hot at 6:30 in the evening!

Houston hit its 17th or so (I lost track) consecutive day of 100-degree-plus temperatures today. That’s wild for Houston, the TV weatherman said, and I wondered: do they have weathermen in Hell?

Let’s hope so, because imagining every one of those dipshits frying up crispy in Hell’s Fry Baby is just about the only thing that brings a smile to my heat-parched lips these days.

Oh, I should tell you many of us in heat-fried Texas spend most of our time indoors, where the air conditioning is running full blast. And we ain’t too bad about keeping the cold beer and the cool rock and roll flowing, as well.

MP3: “Summer In The City” by the Stranglers

MP3: “Great Balls Of Fire” by the Misfits

MP3: “Heat Wave” by the Who

MP3: “White Light/White Heat” (live) by Lou Reed

MP3: “Ring Of Fire” by Eric Burdon & the Animals

MP3: “Hot Summer Day” by It’s A Beautiful Day

MP3: “Summer In The City” by Butthole Surfers

MP3: “Hot Hot Hot” (Radio Edit) by Buster Poindexter

MP3: “Hot Fun In The Summertime” by Sly Stone w/Bootsy Collins

MP3: “Summer’s Cauldron” by XTC

MP3: “The Heat Is On” by Glenn Frey

MP3: “Smooth” by Carlos Santana with Rob Thomas

MP3: “City Too Hot” by Lee “Scratch” Perry

MP3: “Hot Mess” by Cobra Starship

MP3: “Set the World On Fire” by Black Veil Brides

MP3: “This Wheel’s On Fire” by the Byrds

MP3: “Heaven, Hell or Houston” by ZZ Top

MP3: “Summer In The City” by the Lovin’ Spoonful

Sex, Drugs and …

There’s a new movie out, Get Him To The Greek, which is kind of a rock and roll road movie.  Jonah Hill plays a low-level record company executive charged with babysitting a decadent rock star, played by British comedian Russell Brand.  It’s pretty amusing and fairly entertaining (Brand plays Aldous Snow, reprising his role from Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and as you can imagine it gets all Serious and Introspective at the end.

Although this is a wild comedy, the movie does offer a fairly accurate peek behind the curtains of the rock and roll machinery – or at least, the parts of the machinery that still survive.  A crushing economic reality has smothered the excesses of the music business, and the world you see in Get Him To The Greek doesn’t really exist any more, if it ever did.  But as I said, it’s a comedy …

The film also toys with the idea of what it takes for a person to be a so-called “rock star.”  The characterization of Aldous Snow reinforces the general consensus that rock stars are also insecure, immature and sometimes lonely – just like the rest of us!

After seeing the movie with my son I told him this story: in the 1970s, the Who came through Houston on one of their tours.  There was this party thrown by record execs and the band was supposed to be there but I didn’t see any of the Who for the entire time I was at this party.  Anyhow, I was leaving and trying to find my way out when I came to a large usher dude standing in a doorway.  As he pointed to the exit, I peered into the darkness behind him.

It was a small little room, created by those portable room dividers and inside the room was a “Tommy” pinball machine.  And standing alone, quietly intent on the pinball game, was Roger Daltrey.  All by himself, in a dark alcove, while a big happy party raged just steps away.  That was one little peek into the “real”  life of a rock star, protected and kept in the darkness until it was time for the spotlights to be turned on once again.

MP3: “Turn The Page” by Bob Seger

MP3: “Going Up” by Infant Sorrow

MP3: “Life’s Been Good” by Joe Walsh

MP3: “Star Star” by the Rolling Stones

MP3: “The Clap” by Infant Sorrow

MP3: “What’s Your Name” (live) by Lynyrd Skynyrd

MP3: “We’re An American Band” by Grand Funk Railroad

MP3: “Real Good Looking Boy” by the Who

Who Dat? Football Fever In New Orleans

Like New Orleans needs an excuse to party.  Mardi Gras will be about two weeks early, starting this weekend right after the Pro Bowl.  The New Orleans Saints are in the Super Bowl for the first time, and although the Vegas money is on the Indianapolis Colts you gotta like the Saints.  By the time the big game rolls around (Feb. 7 in Miami), the entire country will have been sucked into the giants Saints party.

Expect to see a line of cars heading east along Interstate 10 out of New Orleans toward Miami, like that evacuation that probably should have happened in 2005.  Mayor Ray Nagin could get on the phone to FEMA and angrily demand an emergency federal airlift of beer and liquor … no, let’s not go there.

I guess the point of this is, you gotta love the Saints.  They’re underdogs, they’re scrappers, and they represent an American city that has taken its share of abuse the past few years.  Come Super Bowl Sunday, the only person in the world who may not love the Saints deep down will be Archie Manning.  But New Orleans will always love Archie.

What else?  Are they gonna sell the Who … Dat? t-shirts?  By the way, the Who at halftime – they’ll probably tee it up with “Baba O’ Riley,” segue into “Pinball Wizard,” then “See Me, Feel Me” then wrap it up with “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”  Or maybe “Who Are You” and “I’m Free” and “We’re Not Gonna Take It.”  They can string about 15 songs together, like they did at Woodstock.  Who knows?  Yeah you right.

So let’s get the party started, shall we?

YouTube: Original “Who Dat?” video from 1983

MP3: “Let’s Get Fired Up” by Zigaboo Modeliste

MP3: “When The Saints Go Marching In” by Louis Armstrong

MP3: “I Like This Kind of Party” by Sam Spence (NFL Films)

MP3: “Meet De Boys On De Battlefront” by the Wild Magnolias

MP3: “They All Ask’d For You” by Milton Batiste & the Mardi Gras Big Shots

A veritable buttload of Saints fight songs from the New Orleans Times Picayune

Who’s going to play at the Super Bowl? Right!

According to published reports, the Who will perform at Super Bowl XLIV, marking the British band’s first performance in North America since 2008.  According to the Sports Illustrated website, the veteran band will take the stage during halftime of the 2010 National Football League championship game, scheduled for Feb. 7 in Miami.

The NFL has yet to officially confirm the report, saying, “When we have something to announce, we’ll announce it.”

During a recent stop on his “Use It or Lose It” solo tour, frontman Roger Daltrey told Billboard.com that he and bandmate/composer Pete Townshend were working on new material for the Who’s followup to 2006’s Endless Wire.  “Hopefully if this tour has done its job, I’ll be in really good form as a vocalist,” said Daltrey. “And who knows, we might make our best work.”

Townshend has acknowledged working on two projects — a new musical called “Floss” and the Who’s next album, which he has said will include some pieces from the “Floss” project.

Review: Woodstock 40 Years On – Back To Yasgur’s Farm

We are going to move on from Woodstock, and this is the last stop.  I slapped this on the other day and it pretty much stopped me in my tracks.  More than a few times during the Woodstock 40th anniversary weekend I read where the music itself at the 1969 festival wasn’t that great.  Woodstock 40 Years On – Back To Yasgur’s Farm, a new six-CD set revisiting the music from the great festival, makes a strong case that the music in that moment of time was terrific.  Yeah, I know – this is a bit of overkill in this summer of Woodstock Exploitation and if you have any of the other retrospectives from Woodstock, maybe it is a bit redundant.

But look – and listen- a little closer, and you’ll find cleaner sound and some welcome stuff from the vaults that help disprove the myth of sloppy sets.  The Grateful Dead for years complained that their set was horrible, for example: the version here of “Dark Star” is sublime, and even after 19 minutes it still fades out before its ending.  Joan Baez turns in nice versions of a couple of Gram Parsons tunes, “Hickory Wind” and “Drug Store Truck Drivin’ Man”; Creedence Clearwater Revival kicks it with three of their best-known tunes and the mostly acoustic Disc 1 puts a spotlight on the tragically forgotten Bert Sommer, as well as the bottom-billed Sweetwater.