”I wanna rip it, rock it, really bop it, flip it, flop it, Davy Crock-it, Every time I hear that mellow saxophone.”
The boys want to Rock. At least, they did when I was a boy. Some of us never really grew out of it. The above lyric comes from a song released by R&B artist, Roy Montrell, when I was one year old. At the time, it was the honkin’ saxophone and of course, piano, that were the key instruments. By the time my teen years were in sight, electric guitars were on the ascendant. The music had undergone some changes, but the sentiment remained immutable, and the boys still wanted to Rock.
Rock music was a free ticket for the self-expression of individual liberty, in an age where alternative avenues for such, were severely limited. It was the slow-release fertiliser for what would soon explode into a global concept of youth culture. The one we grew up in. And in this new culture, the boys wanted to Rock.
Those teen years are now far away in the rear view mirror and now I get my jollies night-driving on the freeway, with a selection of tunes from the radioBrandon library blaring from the car stereo. The car, itself, may look the very essence of neglect, but the music inside, is gold. Last night, I was winding-up the volume on the sharp staccato attack of “Tommy Gun” by The Clash and marveling at the dearth of bands in 2010 who could even claim to be so passionate, bloody-minded and very much in your face, as this. “Whatever you want, you’re gonna get it!” At about 2:20 into the song, I’m hitting a big curve in the freeway as Joe Strummer spits out a mighty “Awwwraighht!” and the guitars change up a gear chiming in urgency, like a ring in a bell. It was one of those rock ’n’ roll moments that remind me that I am alive, and delighted to be so.
The car comes out of the curve and back into a straight line, as “Tommy Gun” suddenly slams shut. And then, Roy Montrell kicks in. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCE34d-gzgo
”I wanna rip it, rock it, really bop it, flip it, flop it, Davy Crock-it, Every time I hear that mellow saxophone.”
I’ve been listening to quite a lot of Rock music just lately. Not all of it new, quite obviously. I used the recent passing of (what would have been) John Lennon’s 70th birthday to make “The John Lennon 70th Birthday Cheddar”, now waxed, and ripening on the cellar shelf. By comparison, the efforts by the people at EMI were a little over the top. The positive result being, John Lennon has made a return to the top-10 in this week’s album chart. His newly remastered catalogue has been reissued in multiple formats including a single album, “Power To The People: The Hits”, an impressive 4xCD box, “Gimme Some Truth” and an expanded 11xCD collection, for those in a tax bracket beyond my personal experience.
Just below John Lennon in the album chart is the new Santana album. The title itself is a warning: “Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics Of All Time”. The M.O. is quite simple. Carlos Santana wants to be in the charts and Clive Davis is his enabler. Like the hugely successful, “Supernatural” album before it, the new one is another all-star jamboree, ensuring the strongest commercial prospects. To give a little credit, the first four tracks are exceptional but after that, the whole idea goes south. And since when, has “Riders On The Storm” been a guitar classic? It augurs well for Bogans and will, in all likelihood, win a Grammy.
I was hoping the new Kings Of Leon album, “Come Around Sundown”, might be more promising. But it wasn’t. After the globe rogering success of the last album, and its big single, “Sex On Fire”, expectations were high. Maybe, too high. If there’s a great song on there, it wasn’t busting to get out on the first couple of listens.
No, in reaching the tastiest fruit, you sometimes need to venture through bristle and thorn. For those who believe in a music that exudes sweat, passion and a propensity toward violence, your great redeemer in 2010 is the nation’s beloved iconoclast, Nick Cave. His second album with his other band, Grinderman, is the kind of Rock record prone to attract the full five stars from the kind of reviewers who get paid to do this stuff. Put simply, the first Grinderman album was great. This one is better.
Nick creates an unsettling music that goes right for the darkest niches of the psyche and starts to fluff up the cushions. Go with it, and see if there really is anything quite as dark, in your own world of experience, or memory.
Those finger-waving do-gooders, warned us that Rock music would destroy our minds and shatter our moral compasses. Listening to “Grinderman 2” can leave me contemplating the potential truth in their arguments. Yes, in the language, and intent of Rock music, “Grinderman 2” really is that good. Quite probably, the most challenging, and genuinely rewarding, Rock album I have heard all year.
Opening track, “Mickey Mouse And The Goodbye Man”, crackles, pops and scratches down a dry but insistent bass line, before exploding into the kind of virtual world native to films by Lynch or Greenaway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JL_IbeepTs&feature=fvst “Mickey Mouse And The Goodbye Man” – Grinderman
To be brutally honest, “Grinderman 2” will, most likely, scare the shit out of some people but, nevertheless, I am genuinely heartened that people like Nick Cave still care to make music this compelling, uncompromising and, quite frankly, loud. It flips a middle finger to everything about, or in, that Petri dish Pop culture that exists on television today. With Grinderman, Nick Cave reaffirms the age-old understanding: The boys want to Rock.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwZXbAJ_fmk “Heathen Child” – Grinderman
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As an added bonus: a live performance of two songs from “Grinderman 2” on the fabulous, ‘Later’ with Jools Holland. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2eQJhWbYhs
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