Cleaning Out My Closet – Six Tunes

Written by Jim S.

Regular readers of this blog know that I occasionally put together three songs as a sort of mini-set. But then I sometimes do six tunes by one artist. Given that it’s the end of the year and I have this huge backlog of songs I want to post on, I hope you’ll not mind indulging me if I do six tunes by six different artists, some of which I’ve been wanting to post since roughly Year One.Β 

By the end of the 70s, Aerosmith was one of the most popular rock bands in the world. But as Wikipedia put it, “drug addictionΒ and internal conflict took their toll on the band, which led to the departures of (Joe) Perry and (Brad) Whitford in 1979 and 1981,” However an alternate history on Perry’s page says, “Fed up with the slow pace of the recording ofΒ Night in the RutsΒ and frustrated with the band’s precarious financial situation, Perry left Aerosmith in the spring of 1979.” (Pick your favorite version.)

Wasting no time at all, in 1980 guitarist Perry formed The Joe Perry Project. They released their debut album Let the Music Do the Talking in March of that year. The title track is nothing more or less than a kick-ass slab of greasy rock ‘n roll with some great guitar work and lead vocals. Aerosmith did this later but I like this version better. (Perry has had some health issues lately so here’s hoping it’s just a one-time thing and he keeps rockin’ in the free world.)

Spotify link

Levon Helm died in 2012 aged 71. But he had for years been doing solo stuff and performing at the Midnight Ramble in his home in Woodstock. In addition to having these somewhat loose jams just for the sheer hell of it, he also was using them as money raisers for his illnesses.

In June of 2009, his final album Electric Dirt was released and we can reliably say that Levon went out with a bang. Per Wikipedia, “InΒ Uncut‘s list of the 150 best albums between 2000 through 2009,Β Electric DirtΒ was listed 80th. It won the first everΒ Grammy Award for Best Americana Album, an inaugural category in 2010.”

From that album, here’s a funky-as-hell tune called “When I Go Away”:

Spotify link

Tanita Tikaram was born in Germany and moved to England when she was a teenager. She started singing in nightclubs and came to the attention of Warner Brothers Records who signed her to a contract.

Her debut album Ancient Heart was co-produced by the Zombies’ Rod Argent. Of this album, AllMusic says she, “created a melancholy and wistful work, mature beyond her years, of startling originality and honesty. While this album may be considered folkish and artsy, it never stoops to the clichΓ©s that dominated those styles of music in the later Lilith Fair years.”

The song “Twist in my Sobriety” was an international hit and certainly one of the most unusual ever. Of the lyrics, Tikaram says,Β the song “is really about not understanding – when you’re 18, you’ve got a very particular emotional relationship with the world, you feel very isolated, and everybody else is so distant and cold. And I think I was singing about not feeling anything or not being moved by things around. I think this is a strong feeling when you’re just after adolescence.”

This song haunts me. I think there’s more going on in these lyrics than she’s admitting to:

Spotify link

Who doesn’t love at least one Crowded House song? Formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1985 by New Zealander Neil Finn (currently touring as a member of Fleetwood Mac) and Australians Paul Hester and Nick Seymour, they became a very popular band. (Neil’s brother Tim joined later.) This band had – (has? are they still together?) a great melodic pop/rock feel.

The band’s name was originally the Mullanes but “at Capitol’s behest, the band’s name was changed to Crowded House, which alluded to the lack of space at the smallΒ Hollywood HillsΒ house they shared during the recording of the albumΒ Crowded House.”

How can you not love “Don’t Dream It’s Over?” It’s impossible not to. It’s a near-perfect match of music and lyrics:

Try to catch the deluge in a paper cup
There’s a battle ahead, many battles are lost
But you’ll never see the end of the road
While you’re traveling with me

Hey now, hey now
Don’t dream it’s over
Hey now, hey now
When the world comes in
They come, they come
To build a wall between us
We know they won’t win

Spotify link

“Damn! Wish I Was Your Lover.” Boy, that’s a powerful statement. If a woman said that to me – even if it could never, ever happen – I don’t know about you but that would totally make my week. It’s not bloody likely to happen but that’s why we have dreams I think. (All that said, I believe she was singing to another woman, an unrequited lover. But, see my previous statement on dreams.)

From Sophie B. Hawkins’ (pictured at top of post) website: “Born and raised in New York City, Sophie has always been an artist at heart. After attending Manhattan School of Music as a percussionist for nearly a year, Sophie left to pursue a professional music career.

She got her big break playing percussion for Bryan Ferry, and after he fired her she was inspired to write the hit single β€œDamn, I Wish I Was Your Lover.” Her first album, Tongues and Tails, full of primal, fiery pop, was an immediate success, earning her a Grammy nomination for β€œBest New Artist.”

They say the video was too hot for MTV back in the day. Never saw it but chances are it’s tame enough by today’s standards to be used in a TV commercial:

Spotify link

Wikipedia:Β Stephen William BraggΒ (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer-songwriter andΒ far left-wing political activist. His music blends elements ofΒ folk music,Β punk rock, andΒ protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic themes. His music is heavily centered on bringing about change and involving the younger generation in activist causes.

Historically, the Great Leap Forward was a Chinese Communist Party late 50s campaign to try to change the country from an agrarian society to a socialist one but instead wound up causing the Great Chinese Famine. One has to believe that Bragg was aware of this but instead used the phrase in a more personal sense for his song, “Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards.”

He described it as his way of “owning up to the ambiguities of being aΒ political pop starΒ while stating clearly that he still believed inΒ Sam Cooke’s promise thatΒ a change was gonna come.”

Regardless, it’s a great, catchy tune with a killer chorus:

Spotify link

 

20 thoughts on “Cleaning Out My Closet – Six Tunes”

  1. Happy Christmas! Crowded House are back on hiatus – Finn’s busy with Fleetwood Mac at the moment, and just put out a duo album with his son as well.

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  2. Good and somewhat eclectic selection. While I had been well familiar with the Aerosmith version of “Let The Music Do The Talking,” I didn’t know Joe Perry had initially recorded it as part of his solo project. Overall, I dig Aerosmith and would consider seeing them, if the opportunity arose.

    That Levon Helm song is great. I’m not at all familiar with his solo work and will check out that album, Electric Dirt. While it appears it came out three years prior to his death, I’m wondering whether he know his days were counted, based on the dark lyrics.

    Wow, Tanita Tikaram is a name I essentially hadn’t heard since “Twist In My Sobriety,” which received massive radio play in Germany. At the time, I taped the “Ancient Heart” album and liked listening to it. From what I can see in Wikipedia, while it appears Tikaram is a one-hit wonder, she’s certainly not a one-song/one-record artist. Her discography includes 10 additional albums, the most recent of which (“Acoustic”) appeared in Sep 2018. Apparently, it’s a collection of stripped back versions of tunes she previously recorded, including “Twist In My Sobriety.” She hasn’t lost the unique tone of her voice. Frankly, I’m intrigued!

    What can I say about “Don’t Dream It’s Over”? Totally did that tune!

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    1. I saw (and wrote about) the somewhat legendary Aerosmith/J. Geils concert at Fenway Park a few years back. I’d seen Geils a few times but never Aerosmith. Good show. Yeah, I’d consider going again but then there’s that $$$ thing.

      Levon had been sick on and off and I think, yeah, he knew his time was coming. Brave soldier. I would love to have gone to one of his barn shows. I think local people in Woodstock went all the time then the stars started to show up.

      Tanita’s only hit here was “Sobriety” and yeah, big, big hit here. A mysterious, dark tune. If that’s not about some lover then I don’t know what. I noticed too she still has a career but like so many pop artists, somewhat under the radar. That tune has been sitting in my to-post box for far too long. I had to get it out there.

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  3. You gotta know I’ve been hanging with Levon all the way. His albums have always gave me good listening. No exception on the cut you posted and the album it’s from. I watched a doc on Mavis Staples and there’s a scene where she visits Helm. He’s pretty frail but you talk about a cool meeting. A black woman and a hillbilly white guy. No bullshit just two people that have nothing but love and respect for each other. The power of music. Excuse CB for getting a little caught up in that one.

    I like Bragg and CH

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    1. I heard that Levon tune on the radio and started doing a little digging. Great stuff. I kinda figured CB would know it. Bragg is a rocker Woody Guthrie. He quotes Mott the Hoople in that great song.

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      1. I like Bragg a lot. He has his own unique sound. I get a little bored when musicians talk politics but I do like what come through in his songs. I actually have the vinyl album that single s on.
        (Speaking politics. Watched ‘The Fog of War’ last night. You might dig it if you haven’t seen it)

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        1. Boy for a guy who misspent his adolescence in a dingy theater in Vancouver trying to cop a feel off of Betty Lou, CB sure knows his music.

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        3. Heh! Are you sure you’re not American? BTW, I saw “Fog of War” back when it came out. McNamara was a real piece of work. Apologized way too late for all that shit, pissed everybody here off, didn’t cover himself with glory.

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        4. North Dakota roots. Yeah I seen ‘Fog’ before (Errol Morris fan). Bang on with your comment on Mac. His conscience was eating him up in the film.
          (Back to the music Doc)

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        5. Morris’ company is in these parts, Cambridge. First thing I ever saw was ‘Thin Blue Line’ way back when. I can still remember Siskel and Ebert going on about it.

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  4. Great selection again, Sir. Some of Perry’s solo work is brilliant – a real β€œwhat if..” take more recently. His first β€˜true’ solo joint, 2005’s Joe Perry is a real scorcher

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    1. I’m really bummed that I missed Perry when he played the House of Blues in Boston last April. I’m usually plugged into that shit but literally only found out when I saw the review in the Boston Globe the next day. I just subscribed to his newsletter so I can keep up. His site says his doctor told him to rest up so I hope he takes that more seriously than Petty did.

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      1. Yeah, well he’s had a couple of hospital visits recently. I think he was hospitalised after collapsing backstage at a Billy Joel show not too long ago. Still, Aerosmith have a Vegas residency coming up so I’m sure the comforts of semi-retirement await

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        1. Yeah, he also collapsed with that band he has with Johnny Depp, Hollywood Vampires. Here’s hoping it really was the “dehydration and exhaustion” he claimed and not drug relapse. Entertainers of all stripes have for years used those two symptoms to mask all kinds of behavior.

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  5. I’m a big fan of the Helm track (and album – exceptional stuff). The Joe Perry Project is something I only got into over the last year thanks to a blogging pal. Thoroughly enjoyable.

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