(from Every Great Motown Hit Of Marvin Gaye)
I was watching the seriously perfunctory American Masters profile of Marvin Gaye on PBS the other night and was sort of shocked to find out that Marvin's minister father, Marvin Gay, Sr., was an open (and very unattractive and frumpy) cross dresser. No offense to the straight-guys-who-wear-women's-clothing community, but I'm a little depressed to think that the guy who murdered Marvin Gaye may have been wearing a tacky flower-print muumuu when he did it. I guess it is better to concentrate on the amazing life instead of the tawdry end, though. This is the ultimate Marvin Gaye party-starting jump off, the full 12-minute version of which can be found on his Live At The London Palladium album.
Nappy Roots - Good Day
(from The Humdinger)
Nappy Roots have had The Humdinger on the release schedule since 2005, but it looks like it might actually see the light of day this June. If the rest of it is anything like this teaser, it will have been well worth the wait. Official smile on your face, weekend joint right here. Roll your windows down, and bounce to this.
Sam Sparro - Black And Gold
(from Sam Sparro)
Do you ever say to yourself, "Man, the world just does not have enough electro-tinged R&B made by 80s obsessed, novelty sunglasses wearing white guys from LA?" Me neither, but don't let your abhorrence of neon-hipsters dissuade you from giving Sam Sparro a bit of a chance. His self-titled debut runs out of "What Would Prince Do?" steam pretty quickly, but this first single (which has been wandering around the internet in various forms for a while now) is a monster and manages to make vague post-apocalyptic, existential dread sound really sexy. Expect to hear it in a commercial for something sleek and nighttime sometime in the near future.
Spiritualized - Soul On Fire
(from Songs In A&E)
The first time I saw Spiritualized live was at Deep Ellum Live in 2001 when they were touring the Let It Come Down album. There were a ton of people on stage, including a full brass section, and they played for like three and a half hours. During that three and a half hours, I think they played under 15 songs. Needless to say, it was amazing in an "I just smoked opium and am melting in to the floor" sort of a way. This first single off the new album dropped this week and highlights the band's return to a more organically medicated sound after the full-bore garage rock of Amazing Grace. Wait, what's in this bowl?
Johnny Thunders - You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory
(from Hurt Me)
I spent much of this week rereading Legs McNeil's warts and all history of the NYC punk scene, Please Kill Me, and out of all the drug casualties and train wrecks depicted in that book, I think Johnny Thunders comes through as the biggest waste. As lead guitarist for two of the seminal proto-punk acts, New York Dolls and The Heartbreakers, his guitar playing and personal style left an indelible mark on a whole generation of rock guitarists in scenes ranging from punk to hair metal, but he loved the drugs and skin abscesses more. This track is from a mostly acoustic 80s solo album and provided quite a fitting epitaph for a punk rock hero until it was massacred by Duff of Guns N' Roses on their craptacular punk covers album, The Spaghetti Incident. Regardless, kids, please let this be a reminder that heroin is not "cool."
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