Greatest Song Evah 3/22/24

At My Most Beautiful

This week’s selection can accurately be described as the greatest song that Brian Wilson never wrote. Honestly, you could sneak this one on side 2 of Pet Sounds and it would fit right in.

It’s hard to imagine Murmur era R.E.M. being able to come up with something like this. It’s not just that a younger Michael Stipe was well known for mumbling his vocals. It’s also that early R.E.M. would never have been as heartfelt & sincere as they are here. So many of the lines in the song are absolutely lovely: “I’ve found a way, a way to make you smile.” “You always say your name, like I wouldn’t know it’s you.”

The relatively spare arrangement to the recording also makes this special. The band found themselves at a bit of a crossroads when drummer Bill Berry departed. Rather than hire a full-time replacement, they chose to take their music into quieter directions. It didn’t always work, but it certainly does here. The cello solo at the song’s climax is a wonderful touch.

R.E.M. were my favorite band during my college and young adult years. I really loved the growth they showed during that time; going from a lo-fi indie rock band to one that had a major hit single with the mandolin as its keynote instrument. This song in particular (pun warning) shows them at their most beautiful.

Ballot Breakdown - A Tribe Called Quest

The 15th and final artist on this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ballot is the only one that is also a carryover from last year’s. I don’t know for certain if that’s the case, but this leads me to believe that A Tribe Called Quest is the act that came closest to getting in last year. If so, it would be a great sign. In general, the hip-hop artists that have been inducted have all had major crossover success. ATCQ did hit #1 with 2 of their albums, but never had a single hit the Top 40. Their inclusion could help pave the way for others that have a huge amount of respect within the community but might not necessarily be household names among casual fans.

Among the many major rappers who emerged from Queens, ATCQ were initially categorized as part of the Native Tongues collective along with the likes of De La Soul, Queen Latifah, and the Jungle Brothers. None of these acts sounded like each other, but they shared a close kinship; guesting on each other’s records & all sharing similar senses of musical adventurousness. That late 80’s/early 90’s period was such a fertile creative period, as so many artists explored the sonic potential of hip-hop. ATCQ’s chief contribution was to heavily sample jazz recordings in their sound.

I’ve spoken in the past about two alphas in a band contributing to tension, and that applies here as well. Q-Tip and Phife Dawg were two vastly different personalities with vastly different techniques, but that underlying tension is part of what made them so special. Whether they were trading verses or simply dropping solo tracks, their yin & yang produced a wide variety of moods from song to song. I get the sense that more people prefer Phife Dawg; he seemed to have warmer & friendlier presence, whereas Q-Tip presented himself as more aloof. I’m Team Q-Tip, however. I’d rank him as one of the most technically skilled rappers of his time; that was such a greasy throaty rasp.

The relationship between the 2 grew increasingly contentious over time; by their 5th album they were a band in name only. After a breakup there was lots of bickering back & forth in the press interrupted by occasional reunions. They finally got back together to record a new album in 2015, but at the time no one realized how serious Phife Dawg’s diabetes had become. He passed away from complications and the rest of the band completed the record in his absence. (Q-Tip later mentioned that if he knew how ill Phife was he would have let past bygones be. A good lesson in life to follow.) The surviving members made promotional appearances following the album’s release to pay tribute to Phife, but it now appears that they are likely done. Without the whole crew, it’s not the same.

Their legacy as one of hip-hop’s major artists is secure. An induction would provide a nice coda to their career. I’m rooting for them so hard; as I said it’s high time that the Hall begins to include acts with their profile.

If elected, would they perform? - Probably not, the promotional round that followed that posthumous album was a fitting way to say goodbye. Appearance, yes. Performance, no.

Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hit - Award Tour

My Personal Favorite - Bonita Applebum

M. Emmett Walsh 1935-2024

If there were such an institution as a That Guy Hall Of Fame (and why the hell isn’t there one?) M. Emmett Walsh wouldn’t simply be an inductee, he would be a Honus Wagner/Walter Johnson inaugural class type. He was practically the Platonic Ideal of the character actor, equally adept at comedy and drama, always excellent regardless of whether the movie was any good or not.

And my gosh, the number of great movies he was in is so impressive. I could simply list random highlights from his filmography, but it’s more fun to take a look at his IMDb page for yourselves and soak it all in. With a resume that massive, it’s difficult to choose the ultimate highlight of his career. If pressed, I would probably go with Blood Simple, although you can’t go wrong with the scene which reveals the consequences for Navin Johnson when the new phone book comes out.

The best summation of Walsh comes from Roger Eberts’s famous quote: “No movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmett Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad.” Well put; no matter which project he would appear in, he was always eminently watchable.

50 Years Ago - I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight

The first album that Richard & Linda Thompson recorded as a couple took some time to catch on; it wasn’t even released in the United States until almost a decade after its UK release. Better late than never; its reputation continues to grow and it is rightfully regarded as a highly influential album containing the perfect synthesis of rock music & traditional folk.

Roughly half of the tracks on the record are sung by Richard & half by Linda, but Linda provides the singular highlight of the record with the title track. Her vocal performance is impeccable, the sense of longing in her voice hits the listener right in the gut. As wonderful as it is, it’s also a bit of an outlier. The majority of the album largely expands on the sounds that Richard had worked on in his previous gig as one of the leaders of the pioneering English folk band Fairport Convention. The bulk of the record has a similarly folky feel.

Thompson himself is a London native, but he incorporated traditional Celtic music into the mix here. There are plenty of tin whistles to be heard. Really, the equal contributions of both Thompsons result in a wonderful alchemy. I already mentioned how wonderful Linda’s voice is; Richard writes some entertainingly biting lyrics and is a brilliant guitar player. In a perfect world he would have ranked near the top of any guitar hero list along with any number of his contemporaries, but his sound was rarely commercial enough to gain the necessary audience outside of guitar aficionados.

The Thompsons created such beautiful music together, but unfortunately in the states it remained largely under the radar until their “divorce” album came out in 1982. Their musical journey didn’t have the happy ending, but it did provide plenty of highlights.

We Need To Talk About Shohei

I’m refraining from digging too deeply into the Shohei Ohtani story at this juncture. There’s simply too much that we don’t know, and every bit of info that comes out seems to contradict what has come before. What really concerns me is that these contradictions and walkbacks move into “let’s get our stories straight” territory. If nothing else, that’s a terrible look. There are a handful of plausible explanations, few of which make Ohtani look good. At best, he was duped by someone he thought he trusted. At worst, I don’t want to think about what’s worst.

Ever since all of the major sports leagues gladly leapt into bed with gambling companies, there was a general consensus that a major betting scandal was only a matter of time. Even if that’s not exactly what this story will turn out to be, the danger is still there. To have it potentially involve the face of the sport? This has got to be Rob Manfred’s worst nightmare. Part of him must feel like he wants to accelerate the timeline of his pending retirement.

Proximity

There was a nice moment on one of the late night talk shows last week. Paul Simon was on Stephen Colbert’s show to promote a documentary on his life and career that just premiered on MGM+. At the end of the show he performed a song from his most recent album, but to compensate for his age he did not move to the stage to sing the song. Instead, he remained on the couch and played the acoustic guitar.

As the song played, the screen often cut to a wide shot so that the audience could see both Colbert & Simon. Colbert had a look of complete reverence; you could almost feel him thinking “how lucky am I to be right here right now?” It made me think of how any one of us would feel if we were in that same position. Imagine sitting only a few feet away from a musical legend as he or she quietly performs. That must be an amazing sensation, even if it’s a situation such as Paul Simon circa 2024, who has noticeably aged and whose voice is not what it was. It’s still Paul Freaking Simon in an intimate setting.

Closing Laughs

So, who was the first wise guy this year to make the “welp, there goes my bracket” joke? Fess up. Have a great weekend everyone, and see you once again on Monday. Black tie optional.