February 7, 2010
Bizarre Follow-ups
Sometimes musicians return to the studio after big hit albums by trying to top that album commercially. However, here are 4 albums where the artists instead went in a memorably weirder, less-commercial direction.
Todd Rundgren | A Wizard, A True Star
After the seeming fluke success of his 1972 double-album Something/Anything? — which was full of soft-rock staples yo
u’re sure to hear now and again in your friendly neighborhood grocery or at the dentist’s office — Todd Rundgren responded by making his weirdest, least accessible album to that point. To call this album “schizo” is an understatement. The first half is dominated by oddball 60-to-90-second songs, typified by the track “Dogfight Giggle,” where the sounds of dogs barking and someone giggling are sped-up and played over and over. Even when the album relaxes into more conventional songs, the choices are odd: Rundgren (who, it should be pointed out, is one of the whitest people in the world) does a 10-minute medley of R&B hits including “Ooh Baby Baby” and “La La Means I Love You.” If you have the right sense of humor or sense of adventure, you will find this album greatly rewarding.
December 10, 2009
Hidden Gems
HIDDEN GEMS
Fats Domino | Sweet Patootie: The Complete Reprise Recordings
In the late 60s, producer Richard Perry tried to rescue boogie woogie piano man Fats Domino’s career from the oldies dustbin with the modern-sounding (for the time) Fats Is Back, which makes up the first half of this 2-disc collection. Fats doesn’t play much of the piano parts here, but his voice is in great shape and Perry gets him top-notch material and backing musicians. There are 3 Beatles covers on the album, including a jaw-dropping version of “Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey.” The album tanked at the time, and the follow-up Fats, which takes up the second half of this compilation disc is a little less fussed over and unfortunately less engaging. It’s all still worth a listen.
by Justin Remer
Joe Tex | “Fresh Out of Tears”
I was fresh out of ideas for Hidden Gems till I got a copy of “Fresh Out of Tears” last night. No doubt you’ve heard the Joe Tex crossover hit “Hold What You’ve Got,” but I think the B-side is underappreciated and way more fun. Tex’s legacy is his proto-rap style of speaking over music, but here he employs his killer raspy voice in a straight-up soulful wail. (Doesn’t he sound so old here, even though it’s one of his earlier numbers?) The song isn’t groundbreaking; it’s just a great dance number with subtle accents and pauses that cue the rhythmically inclined to mix up their moves on the dance floor.
by Erin Sheehy
