Saturday, October 30, 2004

Can You Feel It, Comrades?

The electoral hits just keep on comin'. Beware; some of these tracks may not be appropriate for the children, THINK OF THE CHILDREN! WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?

  • Electric Six: Gay Bar

Quit thinking of the children now. In honor of idiotic proposals for constitutional amendments and "family values". I really like this song. It's catchy as all get-out, slightly rockabilly, with modular lyrics that don't make much sense at all, but they still seem pretty dirty. Plus, the song seems to suggest that the world would be a much better place if people knocked out the warrin' and went to their local gay bar. Well, that's how I interpret it at least. It's a big hit with the bootleggers, too: the mix I recommend is one with Blur's Country House, by Go Home Productions.

  • DEVO: It Takes a Worried Man

NOW MORE THAN EVER! Sorry, just got to work that in every day. This is a cover of a song by venerable clean-cut folkies, the Kingston Trio. Surprisingly straight-forward and catchy. Early Devo created some of the best music around in the late 70s and early 80s; much less a novelty act, and teetering on the cusp of Punk Rock. This isn't quite punk, but the synthesizers haven't yet sucked the energy out of their music. (My friend Jeff is a late convert to Devo-ism, and performs this song in concert with his punk band.)

  • Machine: There But For the Grace of God Go I

A bitter little parable, brought to you by Kid Creole, August Darnell. He co-wrote and produced this song: it's disco, plain and simple, but it's smarter than most of the other disco hits, with an ironic detatchment not always evident in, say, the hits of KC & the Sunshine Band. It was later remade as a house track by Fire Island, but this is my favorite version. Not sure why I'm including it, except for the God-thing. And, of course, insularity and prejudice, and chickens coming home to roost.

Tomorrow's installment will be brought to you by the letter "P', and the number "2".

"I'm Kid Dada, and I approved this message."

No comments: