The Flamin’ Groovies – I Can’t Hide (1976)

Nothing worse than having to work on a lovely hot sunny day and nothing worse than reacquiring the hay fever that I thought I’d ditched around 10 years ago. Actually, I’ve had a bit of a hokey cokey relationship with the condition over the years – no symptoms ever until my mid 30s, ridiculously bad until I was 50, then all quiet until now as I gracefully approach the big 6-0 ….

Anyhow, I nipped out at lunchtime to get some tablets which have to cause drowsiness to have any effect in my view. As advertised, drowsiness was the subsequent result but I managed to keep my work together until the end of the day and am looking forward to a good sleep tonight.

A few months ago, I decided to ditch all my CDs by The Flamin’ Groovies on the basis that they aren’t a great albums band. However, they have released some killer singles and I’ve been acquiring these on my medium of choice – peerless 7 inch vinyl.

Their career high point is, of course, the unimpeachable “Shake Some Action” (previously posted here) but this is right up there. “I Can’t Hide” is a perfect power pop anthem featuring Beatles-esque phrasing during the verses, Byrdsian harmonies during the chorus, a whiff of The Who in the twangy lead guitar line and more than a hint Dee Dee Ramone in the bassline that underpins the guitar solo.

What’s not to like? Genius steals, etc.

Just wonderful.

Play loud!

Sex Pistols – Anarchy In The UK (1976)

With some form of vaccine passport now being applied in France and Italy and with talk of the unvaccinated not being allowed into clubs in the UK in the near future, there has been more than a whiff of sympathy for anarchist ideas among some of the young folk around our dinner table.

In response to this, I decided it was time to re-read Robert Nozick‘s influential “Anarchy, State, And Utopia” which was published in 1974.

Early on, he shares a memorable quote from Frenchman Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, often regarded as the “father of anarchism”:

“To be GOVERNED is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so. To be GOVERNED is to be at every operation, at every transaction noted, registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorized, admonished, prevented, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished. It is, under pretext of public utility, and in the name of the general interest, to be placed under contribution, drilled, fleeced, exploited, monopolized, extorted from, squeezed, hoaxed, robbed; then, at the slightest resistance, the first word of complaint, to be repressed, fined, vilified, harassed, hunted down, abused, clubbed, disarmed, bound, choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned, shot, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed; and to crown all, mocked, ridiculed, derided, outraged, dishonored. That is government; that is its justice; that is its morality.” 

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century

To follow this, it seemed natural to quote his illegitimate great grandchild, Englishman, Johnny Rotten:

I am an antichrist

And I am an anarchist

Don’t know what I want

But I know how to get it

I want to destroy passerby

Still a superb, epoch defining record!

Play loud.

Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers – American Girl (1976)

I had my second dose of the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine today and I’m pleased to report that, since my first inoculation back in March, I’m pretty confident that I’ve not contracted the virus and I’ve certainly not needed to be hospitalised. Jab done ….

I’ve had a fairly quiet day.

A little bit of work but a lot of reading.

I finished off the second half of last week’s Economist, read the whole of this week’s Spectator and devoured another 60 pages of Craig Brown‘s superb book about the Beatles “One Two Three Four”. In the latter, we’re up to the end of 1968 and, spoiler alert, Yoko Ono is not coming out of it well and neither is the fab four’s business acumen. Who knows, if their original Apple Corps had been better run, Steve Jobs might have had to come up with a different brand name – “Lemon”, perhaps?

Maybe not …..

Anyhow, I was delighted that the original 7″ single of Tom Petty‘s timeless “American Girl” turned up in the post today – it’s an all time power pop classic and immediately received several plays. It’s a toss up for me whether this is his best tune (and taken from his debut LP) or whether “Free Fallin'” from 1989 just shades it (check here to make the comparison).

Either way, “American Girl” is a classic part of the rock canon and I’ve chosen four versions to showcase. First is the LP/single take, then live on the Old Grey Whistle Test from 1978, live on US TV from the early 1980s and, finally live at the American Band Aid gig in 1985.

Perfect (power) pop music – play loud!

Thin Lizzy – The Boys Are Back In Town (1976)

Well, it’s been a great day.

I was up at 05:55 and listened to the news but managed to avoid the cricket scores.

From around 06:45, I watched the cricket from India with a 3 hour delay and then made a quick detour to the Co-op to stock up on fruit juice, beer and olives.

Back home, I read most of “Extraterrestrial” by Avi Loeb and then checked out a few CDs given away free by music magazines over the last few years.

I then watched the outstanding Wales versus Ireland international rugby union match in the first round of this year’s Six Nations competition.

To be honest, all of this was a minor detail ahead of Manchester City‘s visit to Liverpool at Anfield in the Premier League.

I had placed a tenner on City winning the game 4-0 at 33/1. As it was, they only managed 4-1.

I can deal with the £10 loss!

City are in extraordinary form at the moment.

In fact, after a slow start, the “boys are back in town” (see what I’ve done there) ……

We’ve never seen football like that played under Pep Guardiola – the man is a genius!

Check out a few versions of a perfect pop record.

Boston – More Than A Feeling (1976)

I managed to take the day off work and I’ve had a lovely time.

I started off with a long lie in before watching a bit of the Test Match which I had forgotten was starting today. After that, I went for a walk under perfect, cloudless skies and, on my return, spent some time reading articles in The Economist, The Spectator and New Statesman before starting a new novel, “The Octopus Man” written by Jasper Gibson. A very promising first chapter.

During the walk, I listened to an interesting lecture by Freeman Dyson about his experience of living through four revolutions – space technology, nuclear energy. the genome and the computer revolution. Wide ranging reflections and some nice anecdotes.

My favourite one came early on when he was talking about developments in space technology. Apparently, he and Carl Sagan had been asked to consider the case for building a space station. Their task was to assess how many of 48 proposals for scientific experiments would best be carried out on a new manned space station. Working their way through the list, they decided that 46 of the experiments would be more likely to be executed successfully if carried out in an unmanned satellite or, even, on the ground. However, they did have to admit that the experiment “to study the effect on human beings of living on a space station” would, indeed, need a space station to be feasible …… It was, of course, subsequently built.

Music wise, I’ve decided to work my way through some old classics today rather than continue my largely fruitless quest to unearth new musical gems in unlikely places.

To that end, what better tune to elevate to the pantheon of the bestmusicofalltime than this timeless slice of mid 1970s American rock. I used to love listening to this sort of thing on the radio as a 12 year old and I probably need to post a few more rock classics from the period (though I have already posted Blue Oyster Cult‘s stupendous “Don’t Fear The Reaper” here and Dire Straits‘ outstanding “Sultans of Swing” here).

Anyhow, the riff is peerless, the lead guitar soaring and the vocals equally so.

Two versions. The longer LP version first and then the “official video”. The latter is a little quiet but I thought it was worth sharing so that you can see how our collective hair is likely to look if the remaining closure of barbers and hairdressers continues much longer ….

Play loud.

Danny Ray – Revolution Rock (1976)

On the 18th anniversary of Joe Strummer‘s untimely death, I decided to break away from the “walking” genre that has underpinned my last few posts.

However, I decided that I wouldn’t post something by The Clash themselves and instead post the original version of a tune that the band covered on their outstanding 1979 LP, London Calling.

Danny Ray‘s “Revolution Rock” joins several other songs on this blog that were subsequently covered by The Clash. Check here for “Pressure Drop” by The Maytals, here for “Police on my Back” by The Equals, and here for “Brand New Cadillac” by Vince Taylor and His Playboys.

For the Strummer aficionados among you, check out a few old posts from the blog: here for “Janie Jones”, here for “White Man in Hammersmith Palais”, here for “Death or Glory”, here for “The Guns of Brixton”, here for “Train in Vain, and here for Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros outstanding “Coma Girl”!

Whether it is their originals or their cover versions, The Clash were quite a band.

Thank you Mr Strummer.

Ramones – I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (1976)

After the aberration of last night when Elon Musk‘s intoxicating visions of space travel momentarily (well for about 15 minutes, to be fair) lulled me into some sort of Elton John coma, I’m getting this blog back on track this evening.

Ramones were simply one of the greatest bands of all time and their first three LPs are right up there with my favourites of all time.

Their eponymous debut LP of 1976 was a concise affair but set the blueprint for much of what followed in the brief halcyon period of punk in both the UK and the USA.

I could have posted pretty much any track from the LP but I’m feeling a tad reflective tonight and this always hits that spot.

All four members of the band who played on this track are now dead. Only drummer Tommy made it into his 60s.

But what a legacy.

And what perfect lyrics:

Hey, little girl, I want to be your boyfriend
Sweet little girl, I want to be your boyfriend
Do you love me, babe?
What do you say?
Do you love me, babe?
What can I say?
Because I want to be your boyfriend

Music never really got better than this.

 

Wings – Silly Love Songs (1976)

Right, let’s be quite clear.

This is my blog and what I decide to elevate into the pantheon of the bestmusicofalltime is my choice and my choice alone.

I know I will be inundated with complaints that, by posting this, the blog will have “jumped the shark” (or somesuch).

People will question my pretensions to actually having any musical taste at all and might suggest that the previous 700 posts or so were simply an aberration.

I have, of course, previously had to examine my conscience before posting the likes of ABBA‘s career high “Suzy Hangaround” (here) or Dire Straits‘ wonderful “Romeo and Juliet” (here). But my conscience remains clear and I know that, today, I am doing the right thing.

Apparently written in response to John Lennon‘s assertion that he was now confined to writing “silly love songs”, Paul McCartney comes up with one of the greatest basslines in history and a joyous tune that is perfect for a beautiful, sunny, Spring afternoon.

Yes, I confess, I have caught a little sun this afternoon; but not that much sun I assure you.

This was always on my dad’s turntable in our flat in Hong Kong in 1976.

Fond memories and perfect pop music!

Funkadelic – Cosmic Slop (Live) (1976)

The April 2020 issue of Mojo magazine has a quite outstanding free CD with it called Heavy Soul Vol. 2 – Mojo Presents 15 Hits of Psychedelic Funk, Black Rock and Cosmic Slop …

A  number of the tracks are worthy of elevation to the pantheon of the bestmusicofalltime, but I’m going to start with this extraordinary P.Funk wig out!

“Cosmic Slop” was originally released as the title track of Funkadelic’s fifth LP released in 1973. An edited version was also released as a single in the same year. Those 1973 versions are okay, but they pale into insignificance compared to this epic live version recorded in 1976 and released on the LP Hardcore Jollies.

The bass is louder and funkier and the guitar, oh the guitar! Gary Shider at his absolute finest delivering “acid fried guitar” as Mojo accurately describe it. It gets a bit quiet in the middle but be patient!

Play loud!

The Flamin’ Groovies – Shake Some Action (1976)

I’m struggling to understand how I haven’t already posted this on the blog!

This is an absolute “power pop” classic and one of my favourite songs of all time! Jangly guitars, driving bass, killer melody and inspired vocals. Sure, the genius of The Ramones, Talking Heads, Blondie, etc, was on the rise at this time but this song is right up there!

Flamin’ Groovies were actually formed in the USA in 1965 but it was only after Chris Wilson replaced Roy Loney that they shifted direction to adopt the power pop stance for which they are best known.

Like so many great records of this time and of this genre, the song was produced by the great Dave Edmunds.

Play loud and smile.