Song of the Day-"7 Baboker" by Yael Naim

Yael Naim first came to my attention when her song "New Soul" was personally chosen by Steve Jobs in 2008 to herald the release of the MacBook Air Laptop. There is no way that I would have ever heard this song on a conventional outlet as it did not fit most radio formats. On the strength of the constant commercial repetition this song went to number 7 on the US Billboard Single charts, the first top ten single ever by an Israeli solo artist.

As a sephardic Jew born in Paris, who later moved to Israel, Yael is multi-lingual and records in French, Hebrew and English. The song of the day is the beautifully sung "7 Baboker" from Yael's self-titled first release first release that contained "New Soul." The lyrics of this tune are in Hebrew. If you want to read the English translation, you can find it at this link. The lyrics are very simple, direct and poetic.


7 Baboker English Lyrics


Here is the song!

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50 Years Ago Today

The Beatles first UK album was released 50 years ago today. Even though you can't listen to the Beatles on Spotify, Rhapsody, Mog or RDio, (at least not the Beatles tunes that most people are familiar with)through the miracle of You Tube, the entire album is available for your listening pleasure in one steaming chunk. The entire album was recorded in one 9 hour and 45 minute session in the London Abbey Road studios on February 11, 1963 and released about 6 weeks later. "Twist And Shout" featuring the throat-shredding lead vocal of John Winston Lennon was recorded last, due to John's battling a cold. "Hold Me Tight" was recorded but not used, and then re-recorded for "With The Beatles."

The title "Off the Beatles Track" was considered, but rejected by Beatles Producer George Martin. He also considered recording the album "live" at the Cavern Club but found it logistically unsuitable. The resulting document is essentially the Beatle's live show at that time.

The album is 39th on the list of Rolling Stone's Greatest Albums of All Time.

International Pop Overthrow at PJ's Lager House April 4-6

PJ's Lager House in Corktown will be hosting the International Pop Overthrow, the music festival created and run by the one and only David Bash, rock music writer and theoretician par excellance! IPO, as it's called by it's many fans, comes to a new venue this year, with a $10.00 cover charge and 26, count 'em, 26 great local bands providing the rockin' backbeat from 7:30 Thursday to the wee small hours of Sunday morning(taking time out only to comply with local liquor laws and to change the kegs). A splendid time is guaranteed for all.

Appropriately, the IPO starts the weekend the AL Champ Detroit Tigers open their season. The Tigers are the team that has bedeviled David's beloved New York Yankees the last few playoff runs. I hope David doesn't mind that I will be showing up after the Opening Day game, wearing my Tigers regalia.

I am gonna throw some links out to David's website, where you can read a lot of David's writings, reviews, top ten lists and the like. David writes very well. On his worst day about a 100 times better than I can write on my best day. And he doesn't have many bad days.

I also threw up a link to "Kim The Waitress" by the band Material Issue, who's seminal "International Pop Overthrow" release lent it's name to the whole enterprise. You can find more Material Issue on my Spotify "Chadwick's Listening Room" playlist. This great album, originally issued in 1991, is being reissued on the cool Hip-O Select label, with about an extra cd worth of bonus tracks. Material Issue main man Jim Ellison sadly killed himself in 1996, before there ever was an IPO festival, so the band never got to play IPO during his lifetime. Poignantly, the remaining members did play Chicago's IPO in April 2011 with recording artist Phil Angiotti taking Ellison's place. They played their most famous album from start to finish, along with some other fan favorites.

Here are the links with info on Detroit's IPO

PJ"s Lager House

International Pop Overthrow

IPO 2013 Detroit Schedule

David Bash's Blog

What Song is Mark Digging At This Very Second-"Hittin' Where It Hurts"-Webb Wilder

Webb Wilder aka John Webb McMurray released the "Hybrid Vigor" album in 1989. I bought this cd "sound unheard" from the old Repeat the Beat store in Royal Oak. It just looked kinda cool. I think it was in the used bin. Back in the day, I was the RTB lawyer and I got paid in trade (Ha Ha It's 24 years ago Mr. IRS Man!). I would come in to one of the fine RTB outlets and knock a hundey off  my legal bill by getting a box of new releases, catalog stuff, used, whatever. Impulse buying at it's best.

Loved this cd, and the first tune, "Hittin' Where It Hurts" set the proper tone for this rockin' disc. Webb is still recording, at least he was as of a 3-4 years ago but his early stuff is the best. Rootsy, kind of Americana sounding, with a deep resonant hillbilly voice. Enjoy!

Would You Like Some Cheese With That?-"Do That To Me One More Time" by The Captain & Tennille

I like a good piece of radio cheese as much as the next guy. I found "Love Will Keep Us Together" to be a prime example of good cheese. Written by certified platinum Brill Building tunesmith's Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, and originally recorded by Neil himself, the song broke big in 1975 hitting number one on just about every chart in the world, including Billboards. Though my rock-n-roll loving buds dissed it, I proclaimed my like for this song, finding it to be bouncily tuneful. I liked Neil's mid 70s comeback tunes too like "Bad Blood" which was to Neil what "Whatever Get You Through The Night" was to John Lennon, a good tune no less helped by it's connection to the Elton John Platinum Hit Machine. Bonus points for the fact that the Captain had played keyboards with the mid 70's Beach Boys.

Five years later, down on their luck and signed to Casablanca, Toni Tennille plays this demo to label head Neil Bogert who proclaims "It's a HIT BABY!" Sometimes life is stranger than art. The song is recorded giving The Captain and Tennille their second and final number one hit, launching Toni Tennille into a solo career that was pretty much roundly and soundly ignored. This tune made LWKUT sound like "Jumping Jack Flash" making many listeners wish the group were called "A Chainsaw Wielding Maniac and Tennille." Further releases flopped and the chart run of the Captain and Tennille was over. Further Toni Tennille Trivia. She sang on the backing tracks of Pink Floyd's "The Wall" album along with Beach Boy Bruce Johnston ("The Show Must Go On").

What's Mark Listening To Now-"Sway" by Dean Martin

As a kid who grew up in a family with a lot of music, it was not uncommon to hear Ray Charles classic "Modern Sounds In Country Music" or "Genius Hits The Road." My mother, who was in the music business, got a lot of promotional albums for free. She played John Gary, Bobby Vinton and the ethnic Polish sounds of "Lil" Wally Jagiello, the Polka King of Chicago (little known fact-Lil Wally co-wrote the "Go Go White Sox" theme song for the South Siders!). When the Beatles hit, they hit hard and we ended up with stacks of Beatle albums, Beatle 45's plus sides by their countrymen, the Dave Clark 5, the Rolling Stones, The Animals and on and on. I was a typical, British Invasion Rock-n-Roll kid. The idea that I would ever willingly play a record by Dean Martin or Frank Sinatra, well, that would be like eating meat on Friday, something that was just not done in my Catholic neighborhood.
When I saw guys like Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti June 7, 1917) or Sinatra on TV, I just wanted them to go away. Get out of the way of whatever young artist Ed Sullivan was featuring.

But then I grew up. Started working in a record store in high school. Worked part time right through college. Had some of the best times of my life in that store. If I could support my family and own a record store doing it, then I would be running a record store. Most fun I ever had in my life. Very much like the movie "High Fidelity" (and the fine Nick Hornby book it was based on!

My boss at Harmony House (and good friend to this day) Lloyd Welch, put on some Sinatra. The album was "Sinatra-Basie: A Historic Musical First" with Frank and Count Basie on the Hazel Park Harmony House turntable. My initial reaction was, WTF? But the undeniable musical skill of these two giants hooked me. From that day forward, I became a Sinatra fan. Which ultimately leads me to this appreciation of the fine musical talents of Dean Martin.

Dean, of course, first came to fame as the "straight" man to Jerry Lewis' trained monkey in the biggest act in show business, Martin & Lewis. Every Martin and Lewis film had a couple of vocal spotlights for Dean and he soon became a visitor to the Pop Charts with tunes like "That's Amore, "Volare" and "Memories Are Made Of This." Dean's string of hits continued into the 60s even having a number one song as late as 1968 with "Everybody Loves Somebody (Sometime)" which became a theme song of sorts.

Dean also became as well known for his acting, in movies such as "Kiss Me Stupid," The Matt Helm Spy series, "Airport" not to mention the so-called Rat Pack films with Frank, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop. The original "Oceans Eleven" and "Robin and the Seven Hoods" epitomized the height of early 60s white male cool. And Dean may have been the coolest of all, impressing "Clan" leader Sinatra by just not giving a f___!

Dean's musical variety show continued on NBC for years, where he played up his persona as a drunken, devil-may-care playboy. You can still buy the "Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts" through an infomercial running on a station near you (AVAILABLE ON VHS!).

Unfortunately, in 1987 Dean's son Dean Paul crashed his jet into a mountain while on duty in the California Air National Guard. The death of his son destroyed him, and he essentially waited around to die, which he did in 1995 of cancer. Before his death, he attempted to go out on tour with Frank and Sammy but quit the tour halfway through never to perform again. His heart just wasn't in it.

In his glory days, Dean recorded for the guys in the big record stack in Hollywood, Capitol. 3 years before the end of Martin & Lewis, Dean started recording more frequently. He cut "Sway" in 1953. "Sway" was a tune by Mexican band leader and composer Pablo Beltran Ruiz, and hit number 16 on the Billboard Charts in 1954. Later redone well by Michael Buble who had a minor hit with it as the third single on his first album, and redone horribly by the Pussycat Dolls who.... let's just say the less said the better.

"It's Something" by Chris Richards and the Subtractions

I have blogged before about the excellent Chris Richards and the Subtractions whose fine "Get Your La-La's Out" release in 2012 showed up on several of the most discriminating ten best lists. He has released a new video for "It's Something" which is shown here.

Chris and the guys will be playing PJ's Lager House on April 6, 2013 during the not-to-be-missed International Pop Overthrow Festival (more on that later). I plan on attending and being nicely-rocked while enjoying a cold, malt beverage. Give Chris' video a "spin" and make plans to attend. Maybe while your there, stop in and buy some vinyl from the friendly fellows at Hello Records, a mere blocks from PJ's.

Chris Richards and Subtractions

Hello Records website

Happy Birthday to my Lovely Wife, Kelly!

Had I never met my wife Kelly I don't know where I would be. Probably be a shell of a man, appearing to be three dimensional only with the proper lighting. To the extent that I have made anything of myself in my life, as a father, as a husband, as a lawyer, as a human being I owe it to her. Kelly, much love on your St. Patty's Day Birthday.

The Song Whats Stuck In Mark's Head-"Proto Pretty" by the Wondermints aka Mark get's LIED TO by the Internets!

If you are a follower or casual observer of the BrianWilson saga, you probably know of the role that LA's Wondermint's have played in his creative renaissance. The main members of the Wondermint's according to what Al Franken would call the "prestigious" Internet are Darian Sahanja (Keyboards), Nick Walusko aka Nicky Wonder (guitar) and Mike D'Amico (Percussion). At various times they have been joined by Brian Kassan on bass, David Nolte on bass and the multi-talented Probyn Gregory on whatever needs playing. They came to Brian's attention while playing in Southern California clubs where they would pull off  a showcase like replicating difficult-to-play live material like the Beach Boy's Pet Sounds. Brian famously offered up a blurb for one of their albums along the lines of "If the Wondermint's had been my backup band then I would have finished "Smile" and toured behind it" or words to that effect. Life would soon imitate art as they became the core of BW's crack backing band, helping him finish "Smile" and touring behind it.

"Proto Pretty" was a vinyl single released in the 90's way before all of the Brian Wilson focused attention.  It may be their earliest release, but I can't be sure of that. Google the name Wondermints and you get a skimpy Wikipedia entry and a lot of Brian Wilson articles but relatively little on the band itself. "Proto Pretty" jangles nicely, has hooky 70's type vocals, trademark Wondermint's harmonies, and lyrics that...well, I'm not quite sure what they mean. But they feel good. Here is a live version below with another LA Power pop recording Artist Robbie Rist who played Cousin Oliver on the Brady Bunch (and who writes about pop music ten times better than I do...I'm not kidding about this. Google him!).

This tune was available on the long out-of-print Rhino "Poptopia" collections. If there has been one downside to the Wondermint's association with Brian Wilson (and their presence on last year's phenomenal Beach Boys tour) it is that it has kept them out of the recording studio. Their releases have been favorites around Casa De Chadwick but there has been, as far as I am aware, no new Wondermints music as such since 2002's "Mind If We Make Love To You" which is probably in a used bin in a record store near you. Pick it up if you see it. Rarer still is their "Bali" covers collection which I had to pay mucho yen for as a Japanese Import.

Sadly the generally worthy Spotify has only one Wondermints tune for your listening pleasure, a 2007 track (thus contradicting an earlier sentence in this essay-damn Internet) from a tribute to Os Mutantes, a band from South America which is a story for another day! I threw that tune up on the Chadwick's Listening Room playlist for your listening pleasure!

So, horror of horror's, the tune that the Internet, specifically the You Tube neighborhood of the Internet calls "Proto-Pretty" is actually a live take of the Wondermint's doing the Roy Wood Christmas classic, "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" which is a damn fine song but out-of-season. So, once again, as in the case of the REAL LIVE GIRLS waiting to meet you NOW,  and the bogus Boner Pill come-ons, the Internet has proven to be a liar. So here are the Wondermints doing the extremely worth "Tracy Hide" which is another Wondermints favorite, also not on Spotify!

Listen to this nice little tune then enjoy the rest of your Sunday! Walking Dead is on in a little over two hours!

Fab Faux Coming to Ann Arbor Saturday April 13, 2013

Just picked up my tickets for the Fab Faux, the band led by Conan's Jimmy Vivino and Letterman's Will Lee that reproduces Beatles songs as exactly as possible. This is not a so-called "wig" band. They are not doing a  "Beatlemania" type show with phony English accents (not that I haven't seen and enjoyed those type of shows). This is something different. Here's a link to their website. The show is at Ann Arbor's Michigan Theater.

The Fab Faux

Here's a clip of a great appearance on Letterman doing "I Am The Walrus."

There will be special guest stars performing with the Fab Faux. Recording artists Jim Boggia (born in Royal Oak!) will be there, presumably guest vocalizing on a couple tunes, as he has done in the past.

Here is Jim's cool "Listening To NRBQ" track!

Erin Hill of "Erin Hill and her Psychedelic Harp" fame will also be there!

The Fab Faux will be accompanied by the Creme Tangerine Strings and the Hogshead Horns. They will be doing the entire White Album but will probably start the show with a set of random Beatle tunes. Highly recommended.

Let's make our song of the day, "Don't Pass Me By" from the White Album which is the first song Ritchie Starkey ever wrote!

Song of the Day Crowded House "Silent House"

Great tune by Neil Finn and the Dixie Chicks from "Time On Earth" the first Crowded House album after their so-called "hiatus." I have been a big fan of Neil and Tim Finn going back to the "Split Enz" days (remember "I Got You?"). Crowded House tuneful pop was always a welcome treat on the radio when they first appeared back in the mid-80's and their new stuff carries on this tradition.

Bowie Releases First Album in 11 Years

The always intriguing David Bowie has, without fanfare, released his first album in 11 years. The single "Where Are We Now" slipped out quietly around the beginning of the year, accompanied by a video in which Bowie barely appears. Now we have this release, with an album cover featuring Bowie's great 1977 "Heroes" album with a white box on the cover with the album title "The Next Day." Huh?

What does it mean? I don't know.  The first single was a bit of a somber affair, a recounting of past times and places. It appeared to be a signal that he was returning to the late 70's sound of his so-called "Berlin" trilogy.  Sonically interesting, not very rocking, as if that matters to David at this point. It didn't appear to make much of a stir.

Now we have a full album to judge and the early reviews seem very positive. Bowie has reunited with his most sympathetic produce Tony Visconti and he appears to be re-energized. Considering the fact that Bowie was rumored to have "retired" from the business for good, and variously to be on his deathbed or reclusive due to gaining a large amount of weight, the Bowie here sounds purposeful and focused.

The new "single" "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)" comes out rockin" with an aggressive guitar attack and an "in your face" mix that services a nice little hook, showing that Bowie has not lost any of his ability with a pop tune! The video, which I haven't seen, purportedly stars Bowie and Tilda Swinton. Though it has been streaming on Itunes for a couple of weeks now, it hot Spotify on Tuesday. I need to give this a couple more listens before I have a fully formed opinion but this one might be a purchase on my next trip to the record shop.

Supposedly Bowie is going to be touring this year, which should be interesting. I have only seen Bowie once, back in the 70's on his "Station To Station" tour (shout out to my concert going buddy Jeff Keiffer) and it was a phenomenal show. I am looking forward to what Bowie does next!

Song of the Day "News" by the Beau Brummels

Heard any interesting news today, at least if you live in the Detroit area?

That tune is "News" by the scarcely-remembered, but well-regarded Beau Brummels. A band that started off their career with two big hits, "Laugh Laugh" and "Just A Little" and then had nicely crafter 45s and Lps stiff, one after the other. You might hear the two tunes above on oldies stations. "Deep cut" oldie stations might play "You Tell Me Why" which was a worthy followup that scraped the top 40, peaking at number 38 in August 65. Not having been beaten to death by oldies radio gives it an engaging freshness. (I couldn't find a video on youtube that I could copy into this post but you can hear it on my Spotify playlist "Chadwick's Listening Room")

But, if you ever wondered why terrestrial radio has gotten so musty and non-creative, then take a look at this story from Upworthy.com.


The real reason they still play Mrs. Robinson on the radio.

Glory Days

I've been reading a very fine book by Paul Clemens titled "Made In Detroit" which I have gotten about 2/3 of the way through. Paul's book is memoir of a white, Catholic School kid, growing up on the East Side of Detroit in a neighborhood beset by rapidly changing social economic circumstances. I am about 15 years older than Paul, a product of a one parent home and a West Sider. Aside from those distinctions, I can see a lot of myself and my friends and family in  his account. When reading such a tale I am invariably filled with nostalgia, especially when I compare my younger "Glory Days" to what my son is experiencing now. It's a great read and I highly recommend it.

My son, who has been often referred to as my "clone" by my wife and other family members, is in just about all ways an improved version of myself. Just as smart, just as funny. with a talent for music and an ease with friends both male and female that I was not to have until my mid-to-late twenties. I guess this comes with having been raised by two loving parents in an atmosphere of unconditional love and acceptance as opposed to being raised by a single mother with limited parenting skills because she came from a union of parents who  married, and fought during their marriage and after their divorce.

Which got me too thinking as I celebrated my daughter's 12th birthday today, as she stands on the brink of her teen years, with my son about to turn 15 in one month, will their glory days be their high school years like the sad friends of the protagonist of the classic Bruce Springsteen song, or like their old man, will their glory days be now, when they have a marriage to a loving, understanding wife who puts up with him, and they have kids of their own?

From the Born In the USA album released in 1984, that watershed year in pop music, maybe the last great year for top 40 radio when great singles Springsteen, Van Halen and Prince dueled at the top of the charts, here is "Glory Days!"

Song of the Day-Woody Guthrie's "Billy The Kid"

Billy The Kid aka William H. Bonney aka William Henry McCarthy aka Henry Antrim was a 19th Century American Outlaw who was said to have killed 21 men though the true number is probably somewhere under 10. His story has been told and retold so many times that the details of his life verge on legend. In fact, the lawman whose name has been linked with Billy's demise, Pat Garrett, was rumored to have faked Billy's death so that he could start over free of his criminal past.

But Billy's story has provided fertile ground for biographers, movie makers (you might recall Sam Peckingpaugh's "Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid" from the 1970's) and, way back in the 1940's there is this tune from another legendary American figure, Woody Guthrie. In 1944, Woody made some recordings for Moses Asch of Folkway Records. Released and re-released many times, it is now out on a fine collection called "The Asch Recordings." If you are familiar with Woody's influential body of work through the fine recordings of Billy Bragg and Wilco which dealt with Woody's poems that were not set to music, then you owe it to yourself to check out any of his fine recordings.

Woody is a fascinating figure. A huge influence to Bob Dylan and many other 60's folkies. A hero to the Progressing movement(Woody's guitar was emblazoned with the slogan "This Guitar Kills Fascists," father to Arlo of "Alice's Restaurant" fame.