The Most Important Song

A search for the theme songs of our moments.

[mostimportantsong]

Vintage Sound Soup

The deluxe re-release on Sept. 4 of Goats Head Soup is sort of depressing. But only when you think of it as the Stones running out of albums to fully revisit that are undisputed classics. (Too many contractual disputes surrounding Beggars Banquet & Let It Bleed for everyone to get together & provide outtakes & leftover/supplementary material. And Tattoo You, as fantastic as it is, was born as a stitched-together quilt of leftovers in the first place.)

Judging from the sampler above, we’re in for more (officially) unreleased music that expands upon their classic sound, in all its iterations. Because as fun as it is to listen to Bridges to Babylon or A Bigger Bang, absorbing the musical trends of the day is kind of beside the point by now. The most memorable music the band has produced over the last decade are the “in-the-style-of” bonus tracks from re-issues of Exile on Main Street, Sticky Fingers, & Some Girls. And the Stones themselves seem to know this. The Havanna Moon concert film, capturing their historic 2016 concert in Cuba, is introduced with the studio recording of the Exile supplement “Plundered My Soul,” while another, called “Pass The Wine (Sophia Loren),” plays over the credits.

So it’s heartening to experience the swampy-funk feel of “Criss-Cross” to bring us back to 1973. (Or, for those of us who weren’t born yet, what we imagine it to have been.) Since much of the world is still “Living In A Ghost Town,” we’ll take whatever new music we can get. The fact that it’s this good is just a bonus.

[mostimportantsong]

Bridges to ... More Bridges?

It was only last summer that we got our first installment of the Bridges to Babylon tour in the Rolling Stones “From the Vaults” series. Seems a little strange to dip back into the same time period only a year later, but Bridges to Bremen is a concert from a different leg of the tour, on a different continent, with a substantially different (by Stones standards) track listing.

The most obvious difference is how much material from the Bridges album they actually perform (”Flip The Switch,” “Anybody Seen My Baby,” and “Thief In The Night,” on top of the other two numbers also included in Live From San Jose ‘99.) These songs replace the Some Girls rarities that had such a countryish, American feel. Perhaps being in Europe made the Stones feel freer to indulge their recent experimentation with more contemporary sounds and sampling. (Remember how much better the U2′s dance-tinged PopMart tour fared outside North America around this same time.)

It all makes for a track listing similar to the Bridges to Babylon live CD & VHS releases from the time. Perhaps to compensate, the DVD/Blu-Ray includes bonus performances of less-predicable songs from Chicago: “Let It Bleed,” “Under My Thumb,” “Rock and A Hard Place.” Plus the ultimate Keith obscurity, “All About You,” which closed out 1980′s Emotional Rescue album.

So I guess this summer will once again be a return to the late Nineties. Oh well. I have grown kind of fond of having full-length concerts accompany me in the car.

[mostimportantsong]

Slowhand, Steady, Wins The Race

It’s been 50-plus years since the original Yardbirds broke up/morphed into Led Zeppelin. Eric Clapton is 73, Jeff Beck is 74, and Jimmy Page is 75. As Page has thus far marked the occasion with relatively little activity, it’s worth considering how much more Clapton and Beck have done over the decades to establish themselves as solo artists.

But unless you’re a guitar player yourself, Clapton is the one with the widest and most enduring appeal. As I wait in vain for the Zeppelin vaults to be opened* and to hear Beck solo material that really grabs me, I find myself stumbling onto a lot of reliable material from “Slowhand.” There’s just a lot of music he’s kept on record store shelves over the decades for those looking for durable, bluesy material. At FYE alone I’ve found great deals on two live double albums that bookend the 1980s (*Just One Night*; *24 Nights*) and a DVD of the 2005 Cream reunion. And just yesterday my local bookstore had a $3 used copy of his 1986 performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival that I’m looking forward to watching. It’s got the usual Cream/Derek & The Dominoes hits plus songs that are probably from his (then) most recent album which I will probably never own.

But that’s OK. He’s been playing the same straightforward, blue-based music for almost 60 years, occasionally crossing over into adult contemporary, and people will be listening to it long after hard rock and jazz fusion are forgotten.

*http://ledzepnews.com/2018/02/14/led-zeppelin-will-release-a-new-live-album/

[mostimportantsong]

30 Days of Dead | Grateful Dead

Official Site Of The Grateful Dead

Squirrel Away These Chestnuts For The Winter, And Your Music Collection Will Be STUFFED

SERIOUSLY stuffed! It’s only day three of this month of free daily downloads, and I already have around 50 minutes of live Dead. Those of us logging every day are on track to get five or six hours of previously unreleased live recordings.

I’ll leave the contest to identify years and venue of each performance to true Deadheads who collect homemade recordings spanning three decades. I’m just happy to be surprised at the unlikely song pairings that they probably take for granted. Today we get an “Uncle John’s Band”/”I Need A Miracle” combo. God knows what tomorrow might bring, but it’s starting to feel like forever... 

[mostimportantsong]

“Unplugged” Was Nice, But You Got Me Rockin’ Now

Even though a live album/concert film following a Rolling Stones tour has become a reliable part of their 56-year history, the “From The Vault”-style releases fill in gaps we might not have noticed.

The original album documenting the mid-Nineties Voodoo Lounge tour, for example, was the Stones’ version of MTV Unplugged:

Stripped-down, intimate versions of rarely-if-ever performed songs to supplement similarly reworked versions of the usual hits. The document of this brief period was recently supplemented and expanded in various audio visual formats with the release of Totally Stripped.

But unless fans bought super deluxe editions of Totally Stripped there wasn’t as much added value as one might expect. It certainly didn’t give us a deeper dive into obscure material we’ve come to expect from artists who did MTV Unplugged around the same time.

The Nov. 16 release of Voodoo Lounge Uncut in various audio/visual formats promises the song variety we were missing, if not the same intimacy. It captures the tour stadium show, but has lots of deep cuts unavailable on most other live releases: “Rocks Off,” “Sparks Will Fly,” “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker),”It’s All Over Now,” “Who Do You Love” (w/ Bo Diddley), “The Worst,” “Monkey Man,” “Out Of Tears,” “Can’t Get Next To You,” and “Shattered.”

Pile it up ... on the pla-tter. (THUMP)

[mostimportantsong]

The Next Evolutionary Leap For Coffee Table Books

[mostimportantsong]

The Best of Don Williams: Nick’s CD Bargain Bin Bust of the Week

Anyone who listens to enough classic rock is bound hear elements of country* that make them: (A.) Like a country song covered by the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, etc. (B.) Seek out the original version. (C.) Enjoy other songs by the artist in question. It’s worked for me, personally, with people like Merle Haggard. I even developed a taste for Willie Nelson through his Hank Snow duet on “I’m Movin’ On,” via the Rolling Stones cover of the song.

But then there are moments when I reach my limits with country music. Like when I recently picked up this excruciatingly dull piece of plastic in the FYE bargain bin:

Williams’ version of “Tulsa Time” has none of rock and roll attitude delivered by Eric Clapton above. My mistake was assuming Don Williams had written the song when I recognized the name on the back of his CD.** And the only reason I had noticed it in the first place was because I was thinking of Don Gibson, who wrote “Oh Lonesome Me” from Neil Young’s After the Goldrush. The first song on Williams’ greatest hits was “I Believe In You,” which I mis-remembered as the title of Young’s aforementioned country cover. This could all have been avoided if I had just hummed the “I Believe In You” I was familiar with and realized my mistake. But, here we are.

So I got stuck with a sappy collection of Seventies country with string section backing and “gee-I-don’t-know-nothin-’cept-I-love-yew” lyrics. It all reminded me of that godawful “Butterfly Kisses” song from the Nineties. Oh, well. $4.00 bought me a lesson this time.

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* For the purposes of this post, I’m considering Johnny Cash his own, larger-than-country-music category.

** ”Tulsa Time” might have a storied history I don’t know about. But if other versions are closer to Williams’ interpretation, I’m not interested.

[mostimportantsong]

In Stones Vault, 19 Years Ago Seems Like Yesterday

Is “Route 66″ the way to San Jose? That might explain why the deepest cut Mick, Keith, Charlie, and Ronnie play here is the Bobby Troup travelogue covered on the band’s first full-length U.S.album. (I can remember a mention of “San Bernardino” when I hum it to myself.)

The other rarely-performed songs are ones we’ve gotten elsewhere in the *From The Vault* series, and/or other official live recordings: “I Got The Blues,” “Get Off Of My Cloud,” “You Got The Silver,” along with songs from the then-recent Voodoo Lounge and Bridges To Babylon albums.

The track listing for the multi-format release hasn’t been posted, but here is the set list from the show in question: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-rolling-stones/1999/san-jose-arena-san-jose-ca-3bd69430.html

I remember the original *No Security* tour film had Keith perform his forgotten 1983 gem, “Wanna Hold You,” but his personal song choices here are more familiar. Then again, he also doesn’t appear to be wearing a full-length tiger skin coat in the footage above, so we’ll call it a draw.

From The Vault: No Security, San Jose ‘99 will be released July 13.

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This marks the 500th Most Important Song post. Nick would like to thank Ryan, the father of this blog, who’s been on hiatus as he fulfills his duties as an actual father.

[mostimportantsong]

May The Fourth Be With You On Thethe Ethenthial Thoundtrack Remathtered Rereleathes. Nick Thinkths They’re Gonna Be Thwell!

(thee altho:)

http://mostimportantsong.tumblr.com/post/104789468512/star-wars-sound-and-music-moments-episode-vi

http://mostimportantsong.tumblr.com/post/70142598449/mostimportantsong-lapti-nek-from-the

[mostimportantsong]

Nick’s Simp-Song of the Week: Homer’s Take on Deep Purple’s “Highway Star”

I was inspired to start documenting the show’s take on popular songs after realizing Dan Castellanetta, who often ad-libs when Homer gets musical, has riffed on two songs from the same album: 1972′s Machine Head. (I previously discussed his version of “Smoke On The Water.” *)

Simpsons writers have often joked that the recurring movie references the show has made over the decades could be extensive enough to edit together its own full-length versions of The Godfather or Citizen Kane. A similar argument could be made for its incorporation of pop/rock hits.

Stay tuned.

* http://mostimportantsong.tumblr.com/post/152030938287/nicks-bargain-bin-cd-of-the-week-deep-purples 

[mostimportantsong]

[mostimportantsong]

Nick Reviews U2′s Two-Volume Rock Opera In One Tweet. Sad!

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If official Presidential statements can be 240 characters or less, why should I aspire to anything greater with my anonymous album reviews? Here’s my tweet-sponse to the new U2 album:

Together, [Songs of Innocence & Experience] seem like 1 big rock opera w/ twist of having return of "There is a light..." words & music much mellower @ end, where climax usually is. Weird textures remind me of hearing "Invisible" 1st time. Live performance might split difference & inter-weave songs like P. Townsend?!?

5:36 PM - 1 Dec 2017

[mostimportantsong]

Nick’s Classic Rock Roundup: Winter 2017

TGIF and TGI almost the end of 2017. Take down your wall calendar (if you still have one) and fill in some very interesting music releases for the remaining “Friday” column.

December first is quite a twofur. U2′s Songs of Experience (track listing above) and The Rolling Stones’ 1963-65 BBC recordings that, amazingly, have never been officially released.

It seems like all the other British Invasion superstars gave us their own BBC Recordings a long, long time ago.

In November there’s the Bob Dylan Bootleg Series Volume 13, focusing on his “born again” period. It comes out tomorrow (Nov. 3)...

... to be followed in two weeks by the much more diabolical chronicle of Black Sabbath’s recent farewell concert.

So find the appropriate vinyl/CD/digital/DVD/Blu-Ray/book combinations for each and drown out all the squares in Santa Clause MAGA hats bitching about people wishing each other “Happy Holidays.” See you in 2018.

[mostimportantsong]

Find Your Thrills at the Mall on the Hill

For those of us wary of online shopping and dragging our heels on going (completely) digital in our music collections, FYE stores offer an easy way to hear the legacy of the late Fats Domino and other masters of the rock-and-roll 45. Some time ago I discovered the British (”One Day Music”) compilation series of U.S. oldies called “American Heartbeat.” Two-disc, 50-song collections for each year from 1955-62. I found each one on the shelf (eventually) for $10 per set.  

These are the editions include that include ”Ain’t That A Shame” and “Blueberry Hill,” respectively:

Lesser-known Fat Man hits come in packages equally flush with the original recordings by the original artists, informative liner notes, and time-capsule-collage packaging. Fortunately, the Brits licensed all this nostalgia and sold it back to us Yanks for much less than we’d have have to shell out for the Time-Life collections advertised on TV. You could spend hours of time and hundreds of dollars to find just a few of these rare hits...   

                                                                                                                   - Nick

[mostimportantsong]

The 45 Greatest 45s: Nick’s Definitive Pop/Rock Song List of Lists

Subjective? Yes and no. What I’ve come up with below isn’t really based on much opinion. One of the three lists I used in my calculations doesn’t even give rankings. About fifteen years ago, I brought home a brochure from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum titled “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.” It was selected [in 1995] by a panel of musical experts, including the curators of the R&R H.F. & M, rock critics, journalists, and historians and is intended as a guide to songs that have influenced the evolution of R&R, from rock’s earliest days to the mid-Nineties.

Later on I became aware of Rolling Stone magazine’s 2004 “500 Greatest Songs of All Time,” based on a poll of popular musician, critics, and industry insiders. Then I discovered yet another “top 500″ song list tucked away in the February 15, 1973 issue of the same magazine:

This was “One Man’s Parade of Hits: The Nation’s Top 500″ compiled by then-college student and current national radio programmer, Guy Zapoleon. He had taken Billboard magazine’s weekly “Hot 100″ national survey from the span of 1955 to 1972 to evaluate what people were listening to most over the years, long before “Soundscan” and digital downloads, when sales could be more accurately measured.

It gradually occurred to me that these three lists balanced the different criteria for a “great song”: what sells, what is remembered over time, favorites of popular artists themselves, and songs deemed important by pop music critics/historians.

My first step in consolidating them was to find the songs all lists had in common. It came out to 45 tracks (spooky, right!) Then I jotted down their rankings in the 2004 Rolling Stone list and the 1973 Zapoleon one. I found the average of these to come up with the following rankings:

45 “Soul Man” - Sam & Dave                    22 “Blue Suede Shoes” - Carl Perkins

44 “Leader of the Pack” - Shangri-Las

43 “Good Lovin’” - The Rascals                21 “I Want You Back” - Jackson 5

42 “He’s A Rebel” - The Crystals               20 “Good Vibrations” - Beach Boys

41 “Born To Be Wild” - Steppenwolf          19 “Yesterday” - The Beatles

40 “Fire and Rain” - James Taylor             18 “Respect” - Aretha Franklin

39 “Sound of Silence” - Simon & Garfunkel

38 “Reach Out I’ll Be There” - Four Tops

37 “Chapel of Love” - Dixie Cups              17 “Bye Bye Love” - The Everly Bros.

36 “Heart of Gold” - Neil Young                16 “Let’s Stay Together” - Al Green

35 “Pretty Woman” - Roy Orbison            15 “Light My Fire” - The Doors

34 “Dancing In The Street” - Martha & The Vandellas

33 “The Letter” - Box Tops                        14 “Maggie May” - Rod Stewart

32 “Proud Mary” - Creedence Clearwater Revival

31 “Love Me Tender” - Elvis Presley          13 “You Send Me” - Sam Cooke

30 “The Twist” - Chubby Checker      12 “Honky Tonk Women” - Rolling Stones

29 “My Girl” - The Temptations     11 “All I Have To Do is Dream” - Everly Bros. 

28 “Mr. Tambourine Man” - The Byrds        10 “Louie Louie” - The Kingsmen

27 “96 Tears” - ? and the Mysterians           9 “Blueberry Hill” - Fats Domino

26 “The Great Pretender” - The Platters     

25 “Great Balls of Fire” - Jerry Lee Lewis

24 “House of the Rising Sun” - The Animals     

23 “HELP” - The Beatles   

                    8 “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” - Righteous Bros.

                    7 “Bridge Over Troubled Water” - Simon & Garfunkel

                    6 “I Heard I Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye 

                    5 “Dock of the Bay” - Otis Redding

                    4 “Satisfaction” - The Rolling Stones

                    3 “Jailhouse Rock” - Elvis Presley

                    2 “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” - The Beatles

                    1 “Hey Jude” - The Beatles                    

[mostimportantsong]

Don’t Miss The Vinyl Forest For The Newly-Expensive LPs

The dust jacket-free, slightly damaged version of this book I got for around $16 on clearance at Barnes & Noble is an even better find than I first realized. It’s something you’ll enjoy, too, if you’re nostalgic for older musical formats but don’t want to end up repurchasing the same songs for their subtle audio differences.

Rock Covers (Taschen, 2014, 2016) has the basic dimensions of 33 1/3 vinyl and is at least as heavy as an equally-thick stack of them. Maybe 1/3 of its 500+ pages are full-sized reprints of classic album covers. And since the text is reprinted in what seems to be German and French, the definition of “classic” is slightly different from American tastes. The same feeling that distinguishes Rolling Stone from magazines like MOJO.

Plus, some full-page artwork is devoted to famous gatefolds like the Sgt. Pepper Beatles against a yellow background and the nude women of Electric Ladyland. (And, disturbingly, the nude woman of Appetite for Destruction.)

There’s album release information for each entry, and informative blurbs for selected ones. Taken together, it’s makes a wonderful overview of rock album artwork to help you resist the allure of the bells & whistles on that latest & greatest, pricey vinyl/box set reissue.

                                                                                                                    - Nick

[mostimportantsong]

Songs of Experience? ... You have no idea!

Somewhere I have a VHS tape of U2′s TV appearances in the wake of 9/11: late-night shows, a telethon, and, ultimately, the Super Bowl. The new songs from All That You Can’t Leave Behind were (unintentionally) perfect for those strange weeks and months when popular culture was trying to regain its footing.

And now, (even after alienating hipsters by having the nerve to surprise us with a free album) they still occupy a rare position of massive popularity and critical respect. A rock band that’s simultaneously both very fun and very serious. The Daily Show of rock super-groups.

So it’s natural that an event like the election of Donald Trump would alter U2′s plans for a new album and subsequent tour.* The readjustment began with the above performance of “Desire” at the IHeartRadio awards, the gradual release of new songs referencing “big-mouth(s),” and appearances on The Tonight Show. Last week’s Fallon appearance included DT’s debut in Bono’s ever-changing spoken word portion of “Bullet The Blue Sky.”**

Maybe I’m just getting cynical with age, but performing a take-down of a dangerous person on the same show that gave said dangerous person the ultimate cuddly photo-op*** is a sign of how complacent and impotent youth culture has become. Sometimes artists and entertainers needs to comfort us, but, more often than not, they need to shake us up.

The ball’s in your court, U2. We could all use some of that old-fashioned seriousness and pretension, because the whole world’s become a reality show.

                                                                                                                    - Nick                                                                                      

* https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jan/10/u2-delay-new-album-donald-trump-election

** https://www.atu2.com/news/u2-debuts-best-thing-on-nbcs-the-tonight-show-starring-jimmy-fallon.html

*** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0BYqzdiuJc