Radios in Motion

Little Hits Radio - No. 2
Welcome to the second installment of Little Hits Radio. It’s been a while. How are you? The concept is a half hour of Little Hits plucked (by me so far) from the vast seas of the Internet during endless mind-numbing hours of trolling for heavenly pop non-hits. We would feel weird posting these tunes as individual sound files, seeing as some other enterprising soul has taken the trouble to locate the vinyl and digitize it for their own nefarious blogging purposes. And there are a lot of music blogs out there, bless their enthusiasm, boundless knowledge and generosity. But alarmingly little of it seems appropriate for Little Hits. You certainly have better things to do with your time than sift through mountains of crap and same old same old for the good stuff. Thank goodness for my Internet addiction. See? I have saved you from years of therapy. Let’s get started.
1. National Eye – Bird and Sword
2. The London Knights (aka the Foursights) – Go To Him
3. The Explorer’s Club – Don’t Forget the Sun
4. The Rolling Stones – Get Yourself Together
5. Bonobo (featuring Bajka) – Nightlife
6. Lowell George and the Factory – No Place I’d Rather Be
7. Gene Clark – Los Angeles
8. Shotgun and Jaybird – Secret
9. Glen Campbell – Guess I’m Dumb
10. Emily Sparks – Aquarius
1. National Eye – Bird and Sword
A bit of sweet, hazy afternoon indie pop from a current Philadelphia group, with a moody and unexpected electronica breakdown following a shimmering guitar break. On the most excellent Park the Van Records, a Philly label which releases pretty much the crème of mostly Philly-area bands, plus, go figure, R. Stevie Moore.
2. The London Knights (aka the Foursights) – Go To Him
Cherry picked from Iron Leg, a wonderful vintage pop/rock/garage resource from the creator of the premier soul and funk blog Funky Sixteen Corners. Rather than parrot back Iron Leg’s well-researched findings on the murky provenance of this tune, just read their post. What a haunted sound, a melancholy yet insistent sister of the Hollies “Bus Stop” or something by the Dovers, see sawing back and forth from major to minor key. Dig the vibrato effect on the 12-string, the near-constant harmonized “oohs”. There is a lot of strange chord layering going on, especially in the solo. Try to figure it all out on the guitar, fail, and in the process come up with your own really great original song.
3. The Explorer’s Club – Don’t Forget the Sun
A sartorially challenged Charleston, South Carolina band with a serious, possibly terminal Beach Boys fixation. They’re like a flawless coverband, but with original tunes. More often than not, this kind of dedication to homage produces music that is amusing to listen to the first time around, but the charms usually fade fast. However, these guys not only nail the Brian Wilson-esque instrumentation and arrangements, they somehow capture the mojo of classic ’65 to “Do It Again”-era Beach Boys . A remarkable feat, like building a life-sized replica of the Titanic out of toothpicks or something.
4. The Rolling Stones – Get Yourself Together
An outtake from the August ’66 LA sessions at which most of Between the Buttons was recorded. I had never heard this until a few months ago. I think it’s actually better than a bunch of tunes on that great, odd record. Between the Buttons is such a strange artifact, especially the original UK version which doesn’t include the timeless singles. The whole thing is like a stylistic step to the left into a temporary but pervasive infatuation with…what, Dylan? Get Yourself Together is more in keeping with the Stones wheelhouse of R ‘n’ B (and Soul, too, with the Otis Redding-esque Gotta Gotta’s Jagger throws in there). Jack Nitsche most likely on piano. I love the way the song starts on the minor key chorus. I have a half-baked theory that once the Stones got rid of the piano in their recordings, they lost a good deal of their recording juju. Discuss.
5. Bonobo (featuring Bajka) – Nightlife
If we might escape back to the present for the moment, here is a bit of nocturnal groove with samba touches and a wiff of lonely sweetness, courtesy of multi-instrumentalist and mixologist Simon Green, aka Bonobo. Somwhere around his third record in ‘06, he enlisted Bajka (pronounced ‘Biker’) a singer who has the Amy Winehouse smoky tones, but with a more intimate chilled out Weimar vibe that matches the music. Mental note: must buy more Bonobo records.
6. Lowell George and the Factory – No Place I’d Rather Be
Before his Little Feat years, smooth-singing Lowell George made a bunch of recordings in ‘66-67 with his band the Factory. For an L. A. band, they sound a lot like late 60’s British folk-rockers on some of these cuts, while other tracks have tinges of early garage-band era Zappa and Beefheart. Only one track saw the light of day as a single until a collection was released in the ‘90s. This particular song sounds to me like the Beau Brummels in the verses, and fades out with a hippy parade of cowbells.
7. Gene Clark – Los Angeles
An unreleased track from ‘68. Sounds like the Byrds, doesn’t it? As well it should, as this seems to come from a session for the Dillard and Clark record, featuring several Byrds and some soon-to-be Flying Burrito Brothers, among other Southern California notables. I love the giant reverb wash in the bridge. Clark was prone to panic attacks (one of the factors in his leaving the Byrds); it’s amazing that he managed to keep making records (and well-regarded ones) during these years before SSRI drugs. I’m sure it was easy enough around the Laurel Canyon scene to self-medicate in those days, but in the long run, there probably was a lot of bombing the psychic village in order to save it going on. I am woefully undereducated in regard to Clark’s solo output. I sense a news years resolution taking shape.
8. Shotgun and Jaybird – Secret
In their four-year existence from ’04 to ‘07, this New Brunswick, Canada duo managed to release several apparently pretty great records which very few people (including me) have ever heard or can now obtain. Some reviews cite Pavement as their musical touchstone, but I’m hearing a lot of Small Factory, a bit of Up On the Sun-era Meat Puppets, and a whole lot less ironic stance than that of old school Stephen Malkmus. The neat trick in this song is the juxtaposition of the casual, just-a-nice-indiepop-song music with the lyric’s subject matter: two people getting emotionally close one night, and then beyond, who “never crossed the line”, but nevertheless are acutely aware of the need to keep a significant other, the unmentioned third party, in the dark about this new secret love. It puts the listener in the complex position of empathizing with both sides of the coin. Subtle, touching, and very clever.
9. Glen Campbell – Guess I’m Dumb
More Beach Boys-related ephemera and another revelation of a song I’d never heard until recently, when Larry at Iron Leg posted it. This song was breathtaking sonic genius to me for at least 30 plays and three weeks after I first heard it. Now I’m not one of those fanboys who worships every musical fart emitted by Brian Wilson. I think Pet Sounds is a rather uneven record (would’ve made a great ep, as they say over at Rock Town Hall. But Guess I’m Dumb is of Pet Sounds quality. It really was the first thing Wilson did other than the intro to California Girls that truly resembles Pet Sounds material. It also continues Wilson’s obsession with the Be My Baby beat he used for Don’t Worry Baby. As a songwriter and arranger-in-progress (and Be My Baby beat addict), I’m envious of this kind of coloring and effortless compositional complexity. The Beach Boys first attempted this song (and discarded it) in 1964 (it would’ve been on the Beach Boys Today album). Campbell played the Brian Wilson parts on the 1965 Beach Boys tour while Wilson burned brightly and feverishly in the recording studio. Apparently as a thank you for doing the tour, Wilson gave Campbell this song, recording it in ’65, I assume with the backing of the Wrecking Crew. Lyrics by Russ Titelman, producer of Buffalo Springfield, Paul Simon and James Taylor. Factoids from the Internet, so they must be true. Spike over at Bedazzled, who is gaga over this tune, has a video up of this.
10. Emily Sparks – Aquarius
Actually a band (from Providence, RI), not a school teacher from the Spoon River Anthology. Or maybe the band is more of a delivery device for singer/writer Bridget “Jet” Mullen, as the interior moods and acoustic bedroom quality of their songs sound more like her solo thing. Either way, the result is indie campfire songs. They released an album in 2002. Which was a while ago. They seem to still be somewhat active. Someone please send me a hand-colored cassette of this stuff.
Andrew Chalfen
