Golden Nuggets #13: Shocking Blue- Venus

Welcome back to the Golden Nuggets series, installment lucky number 13, where I take a listen to the top song on the Billboard charts from 50 years ago, and share my thoughts. This time, we'll be taking a look at the song 'Venus', by the Dutch group, Shocking Blue. If you're unfamiliar, or need to get reacquainted, you can check out the song here. Now let's dive in.

Many of us may have been first exposed to this song from the '80s cover version by the girl group Bananarama. That one has a lot more busy production, with a lot of electronic drums and synths, while the original is a lot more rock based, with even a little bit of country guitar licks thrown in there. In my research for this song, the instrumental for this was actually lifted pretty much wholesale from 'The Banjo Song' by the Big 3, featuring a pre-Mamas and Papas Cass Elliott, which was itself 'Oh! Susannah' set to new music. So, people who ever say that the Shocking Blue song is the original version is kind of right, but not entirely. This song is like rip off inception, which I had no idea about until recently. This is why I do this series; for fun little facts like this.

Another fun fact: Mariska Veres, the group's lead singer, could not speak English until later, and therefore had no idea what she was singing about. In fact, she sings 'the godness on the mountain top' instead of 'goddess' in early versions of the song because the lyricist for the song as well as the group's guitarist, Robbie van Leeuwen, wrote the lyrics down wrong. This was corrected on later issues of the single.

However, as much as there are some shady things going on involving the music of the song, I feel like the group made it their own. While parts of the vocal melody and chord changes are definitely from the Big 3 song (I'm curious to when van Leeuwen admitted to the 'inspiration', before or after someone confronted him about it), the guitar licks, Veres' vocal chops, and punchier arrangement definitelybrought the track a new fire. I'd suggest you dig up this track, the Bananarama cover, and the Big 3 song (which is for all intents and purposes a reference track with different words) a listen to make up your own mind, but for me, this song is still pretty great.

So, that's it for this installment. I actually learned a decent amount about a song I was aready pretty familiar with, which is a fun side effect from doing this series. I was originally going to compare and contrasrt this song with the Bananarama version, but this angle definitely seemed to be the road less traveled. In today's sue happy climate, I doubt that Shocking Blue would have come away clean. Next time, I'll be lookin at the track by Sly & The Family Stone, 'Thank You (Fallettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).

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Golden Nuggets #12: The Jackson Five- I Want You Back

Hello all, and welcome to the twelth installment of my Golden Nuggets series, where I take a look back, 50 years back in fact, to listen to the top song on the Billboard charts from the time. This go around, we're taking a look at 'I Want You Back'by the world famous and iconic Jackson Five. If you need to reacquaint yourself with the song, or just dug yourself out from under that rock, you can listen to the track here. With that out of the way, let's dive in. 

Let's get one thing crystal clear up front: I've never been a huge fan of Michael Jackson's work. It had nothing to do with his legal problems, or even his eccentric mannerisms; I just never found his brand of pop all that engaging. I was born in the early 90s, after his career had peaked, and the industry definitely wasn't pushing his music like they used to. Plus, no matter how old he was, I couldn't get into his vocal delivery. As a kid, his voice was preccious and grating, but as an adult , it was even worse, bordereing on incomprehensible. With all that being said, this song still slaps.

That late '60s/ early '70s soul sound is pretty irresistible, and the bass line and guitar licks are classic. Lyrically, its more of the same boilerplate stuff, but that doesn't get too grating, unlike the pap another family band would churn out in the near future (I'll be taking a look at the Jackson's Mormon knockoff, The Osmonds, before too long. I'll save most of my bile for when that moment comes around). 

I can definitely see why this took off with the American public. It was bright bubblegum pop with a fat groove, and every housewife ever loves a child singer, and while that sound bugs me, a child Michael Jackson is far more tolerable than a child Donny Osmond. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that the Jacksons did all right for themselves, pumping out hit after hit, and even becoming a bit of a pop dynasty for a minute. All in all, a pretty good track, and the beginnings of a musical juggernaut.

Check back in soon for the next post in the series, where I look at the song 'Venus' by the band, Shocking Blue.

"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

Golden Nuggets #11: B.J. Thomas-Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head

Hello all. Back to my perpetually late self in delivering this, the eleventh installment of the Golden Nuggets series, where I take a look at the top song from the Billboard charts on or around the 50th anniversary or achieving the position. Then I'll share my thoughts on the track and reflect on the listening habits of the America of yesteryear. In this installment, we'll be taking a look at 'Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head' by B.J. Thomas. You can listen to the track here to acquaint yourself. Ready? Great. Here we go.

I have actually been listening to this song for a long time, and I actually really enjoy it. It's kind of one of those songs that has some bittersweet kind of tone, but the lyrics are all about overcoming the tough times and being happy. It's definitely something I like knowing exists, and I wish I were better at having that kind of attitude. What I didn't know is that this song was written by Burt Bacharach for the Butvh Cassidy and the Sundance Kid film, and B.J. Thomas wasn't the first choice (thankfully, the first choice, Ray Stevens, either turned it down or was unavailable, since I would hate to see what he would have done to it. An installment on 'Everything is Beautiful' is unfortunately coming sooner rather than later). 

I really like what B.J. Thomas brings to the table. He was a pretty popular singer songwriter type who had some pretty popular hits during the late 60s/ early 70s (he actually did the first version of 'Hooked on a Feeling') before going into rehab for drug abuse and finding Jesus. He mostly did religious music after that. I feel like his voice really taps into the hopeful yet slightly melancholic tone of the song, and I really love this rendition. Whenever I'm feeling down, I like to play it, and sometimes that hopeful outlook is enough to pull me out of the bad mood I'm in.

Stop in again soon for the next installment where I'll be touching on 'I Want You Back' by the Jackson Five.

"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

Year End 2019: Top 10 Favorite Albums of the Year

Welcome to the final part of the 2019 year end lists (actually didn't get them out too late this year). Feel free to drop your list in the comments or discuss or whatever, but just remember this is my personal list; it's all subjective. I had to make quite a few painful cuts this year, which means it was a pretty good year for music.

10. Bon Iver- i,i

Jusin Vernon and company always manage to amaze me with how their albums can be so out ther but display such raw emotion. The first time I heard the record, I was like, "what is this?", and in spots, I'm still like that. Ireally like a lot of the weird production techniques that are utilized all over the record, and hearing Vernon talk about his process and the work that goes into making his kind of music on the Song Exploder podcast really helped me appreciate the sound of the record even more.

9. Thee Oh Sees- Face Stabber

I had been apprehensive about diving into the Oh Sees discography until this year; the sheer size was very intimidating. However, I took the plunge, and was pleasantly surprised. My deep dive happened at the perfect time, as I was going through their albums around the time that this beast dropped. Striaght from 'The Daily Heavy' with its squeaky toy sample in the beat, I knew this album was going to be crazy. Psychedelic garage rock meets pop and krautrock in a perfect meld, and for my money is one of the more ambitious outings for the band. I hope they keep going in this direction, as I think they're doing stuff that not a lot of other people are doing.

8. black midi- Schlagenheim

I love how people go crazy for the minimal mathy elements of Tool's new record, but when one of the most innovative and crazy math rock records comes out, it barely gets any coverage outside of snobby sites like NME. black midi's record is a very unpredictable stop and start ride, with incredibly dense arrangements. The members must be able to read minds to follow each other so closely and pull off some of the feats that they do on this record. I feel like prog metal people might get into this if they can get over the lack of shredding and see what the band is doing is just as technical, if just a little more subtle.

7. Swans- leaving meaning.

This is Michael Gira's first record since the dissolution of the last iteration of Swans, though probably 90% of the band shows up on this album anyways. This is definitely a return to their more gothic folk sound of the late '80s and early '90s, if not the Angels of Light side project, but with most of the same ambition that fueled their mammoth reunion albums. This is probably Swans most accessible album since The Great Annihilator, but it retains all of the darkness and depth you've come to expect from Swans. It's Swans stripped down, but it's with all the punch. They were just trimming the fat.

6. Nodding God- Play Wooden Child

This was one of David Tibet's two projects this year, and I chose this over his installation soundtrack Invocations of Almost mostly for its more experimental and sonically diverse nature. Tibet teams up with Andrew Liles for an album whose lyrics are all performed in Akkadian, a long dead ancient language. Tibet has showed a love for old tongues, even earning a ph.D researching Sahidic Coptic texts, and it's cool to see him incorporate that love into his music. My only complaint is that there is no lyric sheet or translations with the vinyl pressing. Maybe it's better that I don't know what's being said. It's more mysterious that way.

5. Ceschi- Sad, Fat Luck

I feel like this probably the best thing that I've heard from Ceschi. The first part of a planned trilogy (the second part San Soleil came out later in the year, with the third part yet to be released), Ceschi puts his best foot forward and gets super introspective, melding his hip hop side with his indie folk side more perfectly than ever before. This is such a shot in the arm to hip hop for me, and I feel like people that say hip hop doesn't have messages anymore aren't looking hard enough. It's also good to know that there are fast rappers who actually say things in their verses too, not just garbage (looking at you Logic and Eminem).

4. Tyler, the Creator- Igor

This is quite a departure for Tyler, but one he has been building to for a long time. This record sees him mostly leaving hip hop for the soul and R&B sound he had worked in to his last few albums (and the fact that the Grammys only gave him one nomination, for Rap Album of all things, shows how reductive and closed minded they are). This is also probably one of the best breakup albums of the decade and really hits you in the feels. Probably the most unexpected but welcome musical about faces since Childish Gambino dropped Awaken, My Love!

3. JPEGMafia- All My Heroes are Cornballs

I don't know why Peggy expected us to be disappointed. Sure, the album is quite a departure from his last, incorporating a lot more melody and singing, but this record still allows his personality and politics to shine through, and his production chops have improved in my opinion. The beats are a lot more varied and I love the sudden switch ups and transitions. It's definitely a record that keep you on your toes, holds your interest and makes you curious for what might be coming from JPEGMafia in the future.

2. Xiu Xiu- Girl with Basket of Fruit

While Forget was probably Jamie Stewart and company's most accessible, poppy and spacey album, Girl With Basket of Fruit is the exact opposite. This record is uncompromising, inpenetrable, and clautrophobic, dominated by chaotic Haitian percussion, dark moods and unspeakable violence. This is an incredibly harrowing and disturbing record, with tracks like 'Mary Turner Mary Turner' illustrating how little America has come from the days of public lynchings. It's a truly ugly thought, but it's also a reality for millions of people in this country and I wish people would listen to this album, and maybe get the shock to their system that they need, but I unfortunately feel like Xiu Xiu might be preaching to the choir. Not a lot of MAGA hat Xiu Xiu fans is all I'm saying.

1. Lingua Ignota- Caligula

If apparently was in the mood to be disturbed this year. Caligula is an absolutely bleak and despondent look at abuse, and is packed with enough throat rending shrieks to make your blood run cold. This album is truly one of the most disturbing things I've ever listened to not involving Steven Stapleton or Peter Sotos. That's not to say this album is not without moments of absolute beauty. Kristin Hayter, the voice behind Lingua Ignota, sings with an absolute operatic purity in front of sparse piano accompaniment before rending your psyche with truly chilling and blood curdling screams. This is not for the faint of heart, but if you can stomach the pain and the sorrow, you'll find this album truly rewarding.

So, that's it for my year end lists. I'll be back to my Golden Nuggets series before too long, and I've made a resolution to commit more time to writing, so maybe you'll see more content in the future. As for now, have a happy new year, and all that entails. Hopefully 2020 will provea good year for music as well.


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Year End 2019: Top 10 Albums That I Discovered/Rediscovered This Year

Welcome to part 3 of my 2019 year end lists. For this section, I'll be talking about ten albums that were heavy in my rotation this year that I either discovered this year or rediscovered in the depths of my collection. These are not albums that came out this year. For that, stay tuned for the final entry in my 2019 lists, coming soon.

The Caretaker: An Empty Bliss Beyond this World

I first came across this record in my Youtube suggestions after a long run of listening to ambient records. This record, along with a majority of the Caretaker discography, is derived from heavy sampling and editing of old '30s and '40s ballroom records to create a dreamy, nostalgic, and sometimes disheartening feel. This, according to the artist, is meant to be a commentary on Alzheimer's disease, and the slow warping and degradation of the samples over time into general confusion illustrates this masterfully. Very interesting stuff.

猫 シ Corp: Palm Mall

In my internet travels, I was made aware of vaporwave and the scene years ago, but never really deep dived into it until this year. This album, along with the video that turned me on to the album, Pad Chennington's Mall Soft video (like and subscribe to him, he really deserves it) are really responsible for my infatuation with the genre. I just listen to the mall ambience and the soft jingles in an echo chamber, and I can almost smell the coffee from the cafe and the chlorine from the fountains of my childhood mall. This really evokes an incredible nostalgic response for me.

Corrupted Data Corp: クリスタル Bepis

Another vaporwave (ish) record Pad Chennington's channel turned me on to (seriously, subscribe). I really enjoy the chilled out atmosphere to the record, and it has a very syrupy and reverb heavy trap sound that sounds almost like drinking the refreshing beverage seen on the cover. I feel the sound of this album and the overall aesthetic (there's that word) of the presentation complement each other perfectly, and I wish a lot more trap production could be this spacey and chilled out.

Deathpile: GR

And now for something completely different. Around the beginning of the year ( I go through a lot of musical kicks throughout a year where I'll listen to one genre obsessively for a while) I got really into power electronics, and this record is one of the more notable for me in the genre. It's not very notable that a power electronics record focuses on a serial killer, in this case the Green River Killer, but to put the majority of the vocals from his perspective and the overall vibe of the album is a lot more creepy than a lot of these albums get. Most of the time, it's just abrasive noise and bombast, which this album definitely has, but it also knows how to create a bit more of an atmosphere of dread and discomfort. Subtlety is not always a focus of noise music, but it definitely doesn't hurt when it is.

Funkadelic: Maggot Brain

This summer, I had the opportunity to see George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic in concert, which, apart from a bum sound guy, was amazing. In preparation, I listened to a lot of their albums to get psyched, with this record and probably Mothership Connection being my favorites. But this one has to win out, if just for the amazing title track, which was amazing to see Clinton's current guitarist rip through. If only the venue had a better sound guy (seriously, 'Maggot Brain' is pretty much an extended guitar solo. Don't bury the lead guitar in the mix, my guy). 

Mort Garson: Plantasia

I like to listen to a lot of ambient records when I'm doing music around the house. As such, I'm always scouring Youtube and Bandcamp for different ambient projects to mix it up (you can only listen to lo-fi hip hop beats to relax/study to so many times before patterns begin to appear). That's how I came across this gem, which coincidentally, Sacred Bones just happened to rerelease on vinyl this year. Score. It also got me down the Mort Garson rabbit hole, who has a whole series of records for the 12 zodiac signs, among other Moog and modular synth based projects. This one is meant to be played to your house plants to foster healthy and happy growth, which is pretty weird, but studies actually exist about music and plant growth so who knows. Either way, it's a pretty great record.

Meat Puppets: Too High to Die

Early in the year, I had some problems with my car that messed with the center console. Long story short, my aux in doesn't really work, so I was on the hunt for used CDs, since most of my collection is at my parents house. At a garage sale, I picked this up, having heard of the band and a few of their songs being performed on that Nirvana Unplugged special, but not knowing a whole lot about them. The CD has yet to leave my disc changer. This is a pretty ineteresting mix of alt rock, punk, and country that I can't really compare to a whole lot. I feel like it's pretty unique and out there, but still manages to be catchy as all hell.

Joni Mitchell: Ladies of the Canyon

At some point during the year, I had an obsession with early '70s California singer songwriter types (Neil Young, CSN, the Eagles to an extent), but I was really taken by the talent and songwriting of Joni Mitchell. I was going between putting this record or Clouds on the list, but this one won out to me because of 'The Circle Game'. It's just such a great song, and it really captures the passage of time, and the magic of being young, and remembering that time fondly. I had listened to this record in the past, but I never really gave it much of a chance outside 'Big Yellow Taxi' until this year, and that was a massive mistake on my part.

The Used: In Love and Death

This was another CD that I picked up for my car. I liked a decent amount of the scene bands from back in the day, but I never really listened to the Used back in my teens. That was a mistake. This record has so many great songs, and I feel like it's a lot more dynamic of an album than a lot of the "emo" records coming out at the time were. Bert and company knew that not every song had to be three chord chug fests with the amps cranked to 11. Sometimes the emotion could be more than just anger or melodrama. The only part i don't like on the record is the cringey spoke word section at the beginning of 'I'm a Fake'. I get secondhand embarassment just listening to it.

Whitehouse: Bird Seed

I don't think it's possible to go on a power electronics kick without at least listening to a few of the records by the group that coined the term in the first place. I feel like this record is one of their best, balancing the abrasiveness of their earliest stuff with the super disturbing (too disturbing in spots) subjects they delved into on their albums produced by Steve Albini. I just love the absolute hatred that William Bennett spews on every track. It's very cathartic to hear that much black bile vomited up with that much vitriol and violent anger. Plus, it's honestly pretty accessible as far as noise stuff goes. 'How You Never Became a Dancer' is hardly a hit single or anything, but it's definitely quotable, at least.

Well, that's it for now. Stay tuned for my top 10 albums of 2019 list, coming very soon.

"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

Year End 2019: Top 5 Disappointing Albums

Welcome to the second part of my 2019 year end lists. Here I'll be discussing the 5 albums of the year that were the most disappointing to me. Please note: these aren't the worst albums of the year, just those that didn't live up to the hype or my expectations. I don't actively seek out the worst of the worst. At least one of these records can be considered good.


Chance the Rapper: The Big Day
What happened? After both Acid Rap and Coloring Book were great tapes, I expected Chance's highly anticipated debut to be amazing, but alas, it was not to be. This waaay too long record was bogged down by bad lines, a corny tone, and, as I'm sure you've all been made aware, an incredible emphasis on Chance's love for his new wife. While loving your wife is definitely a good thing, and I'm happy Chance is happy, it's not a particularly interesting thing to hear about for 90 minutes, and the super happy, corny package the message was delivered in made the record that much more annoying to get through. Hopefully, Chance learns from the negative reception this album got and gets back on track.


Flying Lotus: Flamagra
This is probably the one album that I'm a little apprehensive about putting on here because it's honestly not even a bad record, but it just didn't live up to the expectations I had following up a record like You're Dead! The large amount of vignettes approach to the structure of the album didn't really add up to a cohesive whole for me, and I feel like there were a lot of ideas and experiments that were not realized to their full potential here. I feel like if Flying Lotus cut the number of tracks and expanded on the tracks he kept and saw the ideas to completion, the experience would have been much more fulfilling as a result.



Sleater Kinney: The Center Won't Hold
There were two things before this record even came out that made me a little nervous. The facts that St. Vincent (who has been on this list in the past) was announced as the producer to this record, and the departure of long time drummer Janet Weiss over the artistic direction the band was taking got me real nervous, and when the product was delivered, I could see why she left. This just doesn't seem like the same band to me. I feel like a lot of the edges were sanded off and they were going a lot more for an indie pop/ vaguely alt rock sound. Sleater Kinney used to be ferocious and passionate, and I just didn't hear that. Following this record, and what Janet has said following her departure (more of a forced exit from her POV), I'm honestly a little disillusioned with Carrie and Corin right now. This one hurt, not going to lie.


Tool: Fear Inoculum
After 13 years, I feel like it's okay to expect a grand return, maybe even a slight change in sound. When mbv came out after 22 years following Loveless, My Bloody Valentine didn't just feed you more of the same. They expanded upon their sound while remaining unmistakably My Bloody Valentine. Tool, meanwhile, just delivered a more plodding, meandering 10,000 Days. There was nothing adventurous about this album, and I think the response from the fanbase and general music listening public was more frustrating than the album itself. They were acting like this album was just sooo deep and so complex, like if I didn't like it, I didn't get it. Wow, you guys played in 7, cool. Hardly Don Caballero levels of mathematics there. In addition, playing in time signatures other than 4/4 does not let you off the hook when it comes to writing, you know, like an actual song once and a while?



Kanye West: Jesus is King
I actually had pretty high hopes for this album. Yes, The Life of Pablo was not very good to me, and ye was a little underwhelming, but I thought Kids See Ghosts was great, and unlike many others, the fact that this is a Christian record didn't really phase me (Bob Dylan's born again phase had some slaps, see 'Serve Somebody', and Bob Marley's entire oeuvre was essentially Rastafarian gospel). What irks me is how disingenuous the whole thing is, and cringey to boot. Kanye has no humility, and even in a record specifically made to spread a Chrisitian message, he can't put his ego aside long enough. He can't let Jesus be the only messiah in the room, and the Zane Lowe interview preceding this album reinforces this notion. Plus, the album is underproduced, underwritten, and not up to snuff on any level. As for the new record that came out last week, Jesus is Born, I'm sure someone has made this joke on the internet already, but if they haven't here's my take: Jesus is Stillborn. Try harder Kanye. Just because Christian music has a built in fanbase doesn't mean you no longer have to try. Also, try having some humility. It'll make you a better artist, person, and from what I've gathered, a better Christian. Pride is a deadly sin, after all.

So, that concluded my list of disappointing records. Feel free to shre some records that disappointed you this year, or to try to change my mind on these (you might be able to on Flamagra, but probably not the others). Check in later for some more year end lists, even though 2020 is here. Sorry, I'm perpetually behind.


"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."