Horror House (the US title of The Haunted House of Horrors, an American InternationaI Productions/Trigon Pictures co-production). 1969

You can watch the trailer from TCM's website here.

A group of young, twenty-something Londoners (including American teen idol Frankie Avalon, then thirty, courtesy of the AIP connection) leave a swinging, booze-filled party to visit a haunted house out... in the woods, somewhere. One of the young mods is murdered, leading the others to suspect that someone among them committed the crime.

Your first instinct on hearing of this movie might be to laugh at it. It's not a great film, but it is interesting, so I recommend watching it at least once instead. Then you can laugh at it if you want. I didn't, though. There are seeds of a good suspense film in here, but due to circumstances beyond the control of director Michael Armstrong, the psychological horror film (with a touch of the Italian giallo film just then becoming popular) he was trying to make was mostly lost, though it's there in the unusual, ambiguous final scenes (easily the film's best). What looks at first to be a haunted house film turns out to be a suspenseful mystery as the group of friends (implausibly) decide to cover up their friend's murder and (after wisely leaving the house) determine which one of them is guilty of the crime, over the course of a week. The cover-up takes a emotional toll in the form of guilt and hallucinations, leading to a return to the murder scene.

That, from what I've read on the IMDB entry for the movie, is the film Armstrong directed, and it isn't bad. At some point, however, AIP brass ordered re-shoots with another director, leading to a subplot of one of the women of the group, Sylvia (Gina Warwick), attempting to break off her affair with a married man (George Sewell). The spurned suitor is shoehorned into the film as a suspect in the killings (in spite of the fact that the initial murder in the house takes place when the only entrance is firmly locked, and Sewell isn't inside. Whoops). The new footage also includes several police inspectors investigating the disappearance of the first victim. Not only do these scenes never interact with the main plot (the police investigation is never really resolved), but several of them were shot during an overcast day and inserted among scenes of the friends exploring the house at nighttime (whoops again!). The result is a film that often looks very disjointed, and every time the new scenes appear, the psychological suspense evaporates. Armstrong's scenes often include interesting visual effects meant to establish the emotional toll their friend's death and their cover-up is taking on the lead characters (in the form of zoom shots of things like gargoyles in architecture*), and there's an effective moment during the initial visit to the house when a reel-to-reel tape recorder finishes, leaving the tape end to flap quietly but persistently in the stillness. The new footage has none of these touches and never adds anything to the theme. And the first murder scene, which is surprisingly gory for a film of the time period, was reportedly darkened to obscure most of the bloodshed and secure a PG rating. (For a PG film of 1970, it's still quite bloody). The new scenes include two more murders which are so oblique and bloodless I wasn't sure, watching one of them, if the character was actually dead (I had to real the reviews in the IMDB entry to figure it out). This is another reason why the films looks so disjointed.

Aside from being a suspense film, Horror House is also a neat time capsule of Swinging London circa 1969, though I guess you could argue that London wasn't quite so swinging by then and the film feels a couple of years out of date. (The music you hear is a mix of 1967 pop and heavier 1969 rock - there's even a groovy scene with a jazz-rock(!) instrumental group in a hip nightclub). The guys wear scarves and mod shirts (except for Frankie, who mostly sports turtleneck sweaters), and the girls wear miniskirts and boots (and how), and pile up their hair. There are a few scenes in the real Carnaby Street, so you get to see a few of the hip boutiques of the time (in the "new" footage, you also get quite a few shots of suburban England, which looks anything but hip). The not-so-wild party is set in a flat with posters of Brando, Buster Keaton, and a psychedelic Mothers of Invention.  I remember a Che Guevara poster turning up somewhere as well. The "haunted" house (sorry, I don't think I'm spoiling anything at this point by mentioning it isn't) is effectively barren and provides some good atmosphere - it's a real house, not a stage set. The film opens and closes with soft shots of candles seen from a distance; it's an interesting way to frame the film (and the closing shots add to the film's moody ending). 

Turner Classic Movies screened this film last night as part of their Underground series (along with a ten-minute short, from 1941, on the dangers of washing clothes with gasoline - a burning issue back then, I guess! Pardon the pun. The short opens with several shots of stock-footage explosions. Who knew laundry could be so destructive?).

(*the film includes quite a few zoom shots - scenes where a camera views a large area, such as a city block, before closing in on a small detail, such as a piece of architecture. This type of camera movement turns up in many 70's films I've seen - the close-cutting of it's day, I guess)

From my TCM burn - The Circus Queen Murder (1933), a short mystery directed by Roy William Neil (who later directed some of the Rathbone/Bruce Holmes films as well as Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man).

Adolphe Menjou plays the police commissioner of New York City, the resourceful yet exhausted Thatcher Colt. While taking an unpublicized vacation in small-town Gilead (New York) with his secretary Miss Kelly, Colt visits a traveling circus and becomes embroiled in a plot to murder... well, the title spoils it for you, and the killer's identity is revealed early on in the film, which doesn't leave much mystery (the film is more of a "whenwillhedoit" rather than a "whodoneit"). This film was the second (and last) Columbia Pictures film with the Colt and Kelly characters (whose relationship is depicted as very ambiguous). I've never seen Ruthelma Stevens (Miss Kelly) in any other movie, but she's quite winning here.

This film is most notable for a non-horror role for Dwight Frye, whose performance is nonetheless not far off from his Renfield in Dracula. In much of the story, though, not much happens, so Neill makes up for it with good atmosphere (especially eerie animal noises, prominent on the soundtrack, which - like the animals themselves - add nothing to the story at all). At least a third of the running time consists of establishing shots of the circus, Colt and the circus' press agent walking around the circus, and so forth (some of the establishing  footage was reused from an earlier circus film, Rain or Shine, from 1930). Unfortunately, there's also casual racism that borders on outright silly, and Frye is absent from most of it. Not a bad way to spend an hour and change, though. And you get to watch a reasonable approximation of a circus performance from the era.

The IMDB states that the version of this film run on TCM is a cut edited in 1938 to appease the Production Code. If that's true, I'd love to know what was cut out, as the film I watched included (frequent) references to cannibalism, suicide and feeding a human body to animals!

And more news from the geriatric wing of indie rock - my wife and I have tickets to see two Pavement shows in Central Park next year (anticipation for this band, inactive for ten years until two days ago, has been so high that tickets went on sale this morning, one year in advance). Vivian Girls, Times New Viking, No Age? Who needs 'em? Just gimmie indie rock!

Finally moved to Brooklyn. No home Internet yet.

If I buy any Beatles reissues, it will be later, slowly, one at a time. It's not like they're going away anytime soon, and I'm not one for waiting on line for a CD. Speaking of back catalog... I just read Michael Lydon's excellent biography of Ray Charles. I know all of his popular hits, and the early r&b smashes, but, wow, Brother Ray recorded LP after LP of material for at least three decades, most of which are (legally) unavailable and forgotten except for the ears of hardcore fans*. Three were reissued just this year (Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, it's sequel, and A Message from the People) with little advertising, and there are plenty of others currently missing (and in many cases, never offered on CD). I love the Beatles, but I love Ray's music, too, and the Fab Four are just one small part of the cosmos, kids...



(*even a hit movie didn't help move anything but repackaged "best of" collections...)

Printed Treasures of the New York City Library.

Please take a look at the Gothamist report. The NYPL's rare book collection looks beautiful, even on a computer screen.

My wife and I are in the process of moving to Brooklyn, but (believe it or not) I hope to finish my "30 Days, 30 Songs" series. One day!

So, I decided to put together a new mix (CD/bunchamp3s/whatever) of some of my favorite pop records (with or without the power). There's no theme or rhyme or stanza here, other than pop prefigures in the song structure, somehow or other. I wish I could have included Devo's "Snowball," and anything by Emmitt Rhodes, but I ran out of "space" (80 minutes on iTunes playlist for a theoretical CD-R burn). This is just a random grab bag of some of my favorite pop nuggets from Buddy Holly and onward.

Kursaal Flyers "Television Generation"
Her Majesty's Buzz "Penelope Baker" (great tune from a band I've never heard anything else from - this was included on one of Not Lame's Yellow Pills collections, I think)
Matthew Sweet "Happiness"
Slade "Them Kinda Monkeys Can't Swing"
Chris Stamey and the dB's "(I Thought) You Wanted to Know"
Jackie DeShannon "When You Walk Into the Room"
Blue Ash "Have You Seen Her?"
Freedom Cruise "Sensational Gravity Boy" (Guided by Voices + Kim Deal)
the Magnetic Fields "I Don't Believe You"
Elvis Costello "The Angels Wanna Wear My Red Shoes"
Cub "Magic 8-Ball"
the Bangs "Call On Me" (the b-side of the only single by the band would rename themselves the Bangles after a legal threat...)
Terry Manning "Guess Things Happen That Way"
Alec Bathgate "Pet Hates"
Buddy Holly "Well...Alright"
Marshall Crenshaw "Monday Morning Rock"
the Tourists "So Good to Be Back Home Again" (good Beach Boys tribute from Dave and Annie, pre-Eurythmics)
the Clean "Whatever I Do It's Right"
Elliott Smith "Baby Britain"
the Beach Boys "Girl Don't Tell Me"
the Undertones "What's With Terry"
Sugar "Gee Angel"
the Fiery Furnaces "Tropical Ice-Land"
the Hollies "You Need Love"
the New Pornographers "The Bleeding Hearts Show" (I got to see the New P's play this in tiny Maxwell's, before the band really took off commercially, and it was astonishing)
the Kinks "Victoria"


Yep, I plan on trying to continue the random iPod shuffle series soon...

This essay by Jess Harvell is one of the best pieces of writing on my birth state, New Jersey, that I have ever read. (The Luc Sante essay he mentions is also very good). Yeah, I'm one of the people who escaped to New York City for the cultural opportunities (my parents and sister still live there, though). As much as I love the Misfits, I have to admit that the Feelies edge them out - just slightly - as my favorite New Jersey band, though.

One of the common raps against country music is that it's too insular and too obsessed with it's own traditional past (often, as far as the record industry acts, in an exploitative and crass rather than respectful manner), and not open enough to outside influences. There's some truth to this (in certain strains of country, at least). But there's always been a few lines (often, the best ones) in country that adopted and absorbed other sounds to create something new. This could be say, the Beatles, but in the greater picture, it was black American music - starting(?) with Jimmy Rogers and Hank Williams being influenced by the blues.

Oh, and in case you though funk never influenced country music, well, you should listen to Jim Ford.

Next up on my shuffle is Ford's "Working My Way to LA," from the Bear Family compilation The Sound of Our Times.

How funky was Ford? Bobby Womack recorded several of his songs (and the two wrote a few together), Aretha Franklin recorded one (the great "Niki Hoeky") and Sly Stone was enough of a fan to invite Ford to record for the There's a Riot Goin' On (it's not clear if he's on the album, but historians have spent decades trying to figure out who played what, or didn't, on that record...). Ford even lived in Stone's Bel Air mansion for awhile.

Nonetheless, Ford's music was definitely country (with an incredibly funky sound, courtesy of a crack rhythm section). Lyrically, it's a classic country story of the small town guy, raised by a tough father, who leaves home to make it in the big city - the bright lights of Los Angeles beckon. There's a twangy guitar and Ford's distinctly Southern voice is pure country, telling a familiar story (for country fans) with a whole new sound.  Unfortunately, Ford's one album and few singles never sold much (to the country audience or anyone else), which makes it an open question as to how much funk really influenced the country genre overall*, but it did happen.

Note for Nick Lowe followers - Nick is a serious admirer of Ford's and covered "36 Inches High" on Jesus of Cool.

(*Well, until Jerry Reed cut "Amos Moses," anyway!)

Wilco and Yo La Tengo at Keyspan Park (Coney Island)
Alien at Film Forum (in spite of some hipsters in the audience laughing at the movie) 
the Feelies at Maxwell's (they covered R.E.M.'s "Carnival of Sorts!") - and the Macy's fireworks on the Hoboken shoreline
Mission of Burma and F***** Up in a free show in Williamsburg
the Pains of Being Pure at Heart for another free show, in the South Street seaport
Drag Me to Hell with a 34th St. crowd absolutely into the movie for every minute
Up in 3-D
Read several of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories (in chronlogical order) for the first time in over a decade.
Finally obtained a copy of David J. Skal's Dark Carnival: the Secret World of Tod Browning

Also, another free Seaport show tonight - Superchunk!



 

 

So, I decided to place together a mix of some of my favorite cover records, for a mix swap (which is theoretical, at this point). And then I decided to stick with a theme of unusual and unexpected covers. And then I ended up expanding my set to two mixes (ie., enough tunes to fill two 80-minute CD-Rs). And so it goes. It happens. Though I am stretching the definition of "unusual" and "unexpected" for my convenience at times (unless you consider Neko Case performing a Bob Dylan song that much of a stretch - I just love it too much not to include it on one of these).  These are collections of some long-time favorites of mine, and some new discoveries. I have to thank enna  and baconfat  for providing a couple of these - thanks! And also a thank you to Aquarium Drunkard, Egg City Radio and WFMU dj Mike Lupica for four others.


The Goofier Disk

Popchoir Berlin "Mongoloid" (Devo)
Lorette Velvette "Boys Keep Swinging" (David Bowie)    (1)
The Dirtbombs "King's Lead Hat" (Brian Eno)
Luna "Outdoor Miner" (Wire)
Dean Carter "Jailhouse Rock" (uh, Elvis... who else?)
The Better Beatles "Can't Buy Me Love" (guess)
Raylene & the Blue Angels "Shakin' All Over" (Johnny Kidd and the Pirates)
Travis Wammack "Louie Louie" (Richard Berry, and don't you forget it)
Blondie "I'm Gonna Love You Too" (Buddy Holly)
David Kilgour & Martin Phillips "Message to Pretty" (Love)
Aretha Franklin "96 Tears" (? and the Mysterians)
The Muffs "Pacer" (the Amps)
Scott McKay Quartet "Train Kept a Rollin'" (Johnny Burnette Trio)
Parts and Labor "Sugar Kane" (Sonic Youth)
Bo Diddley "Sixteen Tons" ("Tennessee" Ernie Ford)
Unrest "91st Century Schizoid Man" (King Crimson with a boost of 70 centuries)
Sarah T., teenage alcoholic "It's Too Late" (Carole King)
Issac Hayes "I Can't Help It..." (Hank Williams)
M. Ward "Bean Vine Blues #2" (John Fahey)
Sally Timms "Drunk By Noon" (Handsome Family)
The Everly Brothers "People Get Ready" (Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions)
The Spitballs (lead vocal: Jonathan Richman) "Chapel of Love" (the Dixie Cups)
Neko Case "Buckets of Rain" (Bob Dylan)
Cat Power "Still In Love" (Hank Williams again - you can almost get the full title of the song with the parts Issac and Chan use)
Chris Cavacas "Someone to Pull the Trigger" (Matthew Sweet)
Cher(!) "For What It's Worth" (Buffalo Springfield)   (2)
Dr. Janet "Starry Eyes" (the Records)  (3)
Ida "Everybody Knows This is Nowhere" (Neil Young)
Les Surfs "Tu Seras Mi Baby" (the Ronettes)

Heading into Sad Bastard Territory

Mary Lou Lord "Fearless" (Pink Floyd)
Mascott "I Really Wanted You" (Steve Tilottson)
Joel R.L. Phelps & the Downer Trio "Apology Accepted" (the Go-Betweens)
Donny Hathaway "Jealous Guy" (John Lennon)
Alejandro Escovedo "Sex Beat" (Gun Club)
Matthew Sweet "Magnet and Steel" (Walter Egan with an assist from Buckingham/Nicks)
Times New Viking "Anything Could Happen" (the Clean)
the Pixels "Gigamuffin" (the Pixies... uh, sort of...)
the Isley Brothers "Hello, It's Me" (Todd Rundgren)
Big Star "Motel Blues" (Loudon Wainwright III)
M. Ward "Let My Love Open the Door" (Pete Townsend)
Puff Tube "Boys of Summer" (Don Henley)
Lou Johnson "She Still Thinks I Care" (George Jones)
Electrelane "I'm On Fire" (some guy from New Jersey)
Spoon "Decora" (Yo La Tengo)
Mott the Hoople "Laugh at Me" (Sonny Bono!)   4
Todd Rundgren "Mighty Love" (the Spinners)
the Softies "Together Forever" (Rick Astley! Not a rick roll, I promise! This really exists!)
the New Pornographers "Don't Bring Me Down" (Electric Light Orchestra)


1 - Susanna Hoffs covered this song for her solo record, and it's supposed to be great. I don't have that one.
2 - This rocks. I kid you not. Cher cut it in the Mussel Shoals  Sound Studio with the house band. That's why.
3 - Dr. Janet was a one-in-a-million line-up of Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo, Lyle Hysen of Das Damen, Matt Sweeney of Skunk (soon to join Chavez) and Gary Lee Connor of Screaming Trees. They cut one single - this was the b-side. I own a copy. Go me.
4 - I considered included Mott's fantastic cover of Dion DiMucci's "Your Own Back Yard." But if you have Cher, you need Sonny, too.

It's Jerry Lee Lewis, with a sh**-hot version of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" from The Greatest Live Show On Earth, a 1964 live album (and it's truly live, and raw - this ain't a studio concoction with overdubbed crowd noise). The rap on Jerry Lee has it that, after the scandal with his marriage broke, he couldn't make hit records until he started recording country in 1968. There's some truth to that, but some distortion as well (he did have a mild hit with a version of Ray Charles' "What'd I Say" in 1961. I mean "mild" only in chart placement - #25 on Billboard's pop list).

In the "wilderness" years between 1959 and 1968*, Jerry Lee never went away from music. He continued making great rock and roll records and performing some of the greatest live shows on Earth (in case you disagree, listen to this album and Live at The Star Club - two of the finest rock and roll slabs of vinyl, or CD, or whatever - you will ever hear). His career at this point might have been damaged by changes in musical trends as much as the scandal. Jerry never stopped rocking - the charts (sort of) did. Or, worse, the pop industry found ways to co-opt his style for glossier pop records (Bobby Darin's "Splish Splash" is a slick copy of Jerry Lee's style, with all of the grit and Southern identity removed). Unlike Elvis, Jerry Lee didn't change his style to pop - he stood his ground and rocked his life away (for a great sermon on this topic, read Nick Tosches' indispensible biography Hellfire). 

I don't know what musicians are backing Jerry Lee here, but their playing is modern (for 1964), with a churchy (Ray Charles influenced) organ
and a ripping guitar solo that wouldn't sound out of place on a Beatles record. These are two sounds unavailable when "Whole Lotta Shakin'" became a hit record in 1957. Best of all, Jerry Lee interacts with his audience in a great call and response** while vamping on the piano (something you weren't going to experience at a Bobby Darin concert). This includes asking a female fan to wiggle it just a little bit more. Don't think Darin ever did that, either!

(*ironically, after being drummed out of England for marrying his 13-year old cousin, Jerry Lee Lewis returned there in the early 60's for several lucrative tours and super-stardom - at a time, when, outside of the deep South, he couldn't get arrested in the U.S. On the live circuit, anyway. Dick Clark's abandoning of him after the scandal didn't help. Fortunately, Dick's influence in the UK was non-existent).

(** also, at one point, Jerry Lee asks "Katie bar the kitchen door." Apparently, this is a phrase common in some parts of the South; Michael Stipe used the phrase twenty years later for a line in R.E.M.'s "Sitting Still." I still have no idea what it means, though).

The band I play bass for just got a record spun on the radio. (Okay, it's actually an mp3). This took place on Dominic Devito's Nowhere Near show on WTJU (91.1) in Charlottesville, to be specific. We're part of a set that includes The Move, Sonic Youth, Neil Young, Pavement, Smokey Robinson and one of my new favorite bands, Times New Viking. I can die happy now with a small place in eternity.

Elvis Presley "In the Ghetto"

Elvis wasn't known for recording protest songs, and this might be the only one (well, there's also "Clean Up Your Own Backyard"...).  This isn't a protest or a sermon as much as it is a story, about one angry young man from the poor side of town, that becomes a plea from the King for compassion toward the plight of others.

In the hands of other singers, even good ones, this could have been kitschy stuff, even though it's a good song. (I remember a funny Saturday Night Live sketch with Natalie Cole (Ellen Cleghorn) overdubbing a vocal on "In The Ghetto" to crassly duet with Elvis). Two things make it a great pop record. The first is that Elvis recorded the song with the house band at American Studios in Memphis, under the supervision of Chips Moman. (American was located in a tough section of Memphis, in fact). "In the Ghetto" is closer to mainstream pop than the country and rhythm & blues of Elvis's roots, but it still sounds great, even with syrupy strings and backup vocals -  a quiet acoustic guitar and a strong horn section ground the sound in gritty substance. The second factor is Elvis' vocal, which he delivers with sincerity and grace, with no trace of artifice. Elvis was known for giving an extraordinary amount of money and gifts to ordinary fans he encountered - usually poor people who needed it. His vocal delivery sounds like the work of that generous guy (or, to put it another way, I can't imagine Frank Sinatra - whose attitude toward his fans was sometimes snide and condescending - making this song work). Elvis was born dirt-poor in Memphis and became a rich pop singer - not a politician, social worker or activist (or finger-pointing protest singer, for that matter) - and he wanted to help out people the way he knew how. That was often through charity, but also came from this song that asks for understanding and empathy.

The Downliners Sect "Why Don't You Smile Now"

Here's a neat curiosity (courtesy of the Nuggets II box set of 60's rock from outside of the US). English r&b beat combo the Downliners Sect perform a song written by one Louis Reed and one John Cale (and two other songwriters),  who were then churning out songs for Pickwick Records, and a couple of years away from co-founding the Velvet Underground. I'm going to take a guess that the Sect might have learned the song from a demo or record with a vocal from Lou, as Don Crane's lead vocal sounds very Reed-like in places.  The song is fairly standard early-60's pop with some Reed darkness - the lover who walked away for someone else has come back,  and the singer tells her to smile as he tells her to take a hike (she smiled as she walked away, you see...). The Sect turn the tune into a killer beat number, and this version has a mean fuzz guitar that wouldn't be out of place on a Velvets album* too. Given the VU connection, a few post-punk acts have recorded this song - Spiritualized's version is a favorite of mine. (Velvet Underground drummer Moe Tucker even cut the song with Jad Fair of Half Japanese for a 1982 EP).

(*well, other than their third one...)

Betty Harris' "Nearer To You" is prime New Orleans soul from 1967. Arranged by Allen Toussaint, it landed in the R&B top 20 charts that year. Harris is backed both by a church-y organ and a blues piano line (the piano is begging to be isolated and sampled somewhere, if it hasn't happened already), not to mention a funky rhythm section and strong backing vocals. The title itself suggests a split (or a compromise) between a spiritual song and a pop tune - it lends itself to either. And the lyrics could, too - at first. Harris sings about doing the best she can despite her faults, which suggest a gospel theme of living up to God's grace. But, then, she sings "I hope I'm not being a  nuisance to you" and "I know you said you would be home soon," which puts the song clearly into secular territory. The gospel roots are still there, though, with the organ dominating - the piano subtly underlines.

Up, which I really liked, but not quite as much as my favorite Pixar films (the Toy Story films, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Ratatouille and Wall-E). I did like it much more than the previous Pixar movie directed by Pete Doctor, Monsters, Inc.

Before that I watched Francis Ford Coppola's new film, Tetro, which I also really enjoyed. It's not a blockbuster, but it is Coppola opting out of that game.

XTC   "Garden of Earthly Delights"

The band XTC didn't make many concessions to contemporary pop trends, but "Garden of Earthly Delights" (a single from their 1989 album Oranges & Lemons and that album's opening track) sounds like one. The record is adorned with non-stop guitar lines and percussion that sound vaguely "Middle-Eastern" in that generic 80's world-pop way; the song even ends with an instrumental coda that, for better or worse, sounds too much like a style that Peter Gabriel was working to much better effect a couple of years earlier.

Lyrically, though, this song is classic Andy Partridge, though; it's a paen to a fantasy world where you can have anything you want. You don't even have to worry about heartbreak, because "hearts are built like rubber, so you'll be alright." Which begs the question of whether you want to live in a world where heartbreak doesn't exist (I'll pass, thanks), but the music XTC and their studio friends cook up for this song is so (intentionally) cartoonish that it's too shallow for darker emotions. Or maybe not; as Andy admonishes, "just don't hurt nobody, 'less of course they ask you."

(Andy also drops a reference to "Chekov" in the first verse. Whether this is Anton or Pavel is not clear).

And the wheel lands on - an Elvis imitation!

Johnny Powers' "With Your Love, With Your Kiss" is basically a rewrite of "One Night" (or "One Night (of Sin)," depending on which Elvis record you prefer, though Johnny had the former, a hit single, in mind - the latter wasn't officially released until it appeared in a 90's box set). Like many pop superstars, Elvis inspired many imitators who copied his style very closely. I'll steal and mangle a sentence from John Floyd's excellent book on Sun Records here - Elvis pulled his style from many different sources (country, r&b, Dean Martin, and Mario Lanza, to name just four), while his followers got their pull from Elvis. This isn't necessarily an original sin - Otis Redding started out as a Little Richard imitator, and Bob Dylan aped Woody Guthrie early on. Ya gotta start somewhere, and like Mojo said, everyone  has at least a little bit of Elvis in 'em. Except you-know-who.

When it comes to the 50's fake Elvis legacy, there are two broad categories - copies of his Sun style, and copies of his RCA style (with some overlap). Powers chose the latter (which is ironic, as this was recorded for Sun), but he (or whoever arranged this record - Bill Justis?) threw in a curve-ball by adding a slurping saxophone (with requisite solo) from the playbooks of Little Richard and Fats Domino. Given that Dave Bartholomew wrote "One Night" and arranged Fats' 50s hits, that's appropriate. Johnny's vocals are a very specific imitation of El's late 50's (RCA) style, though, with all of the vocal whoops and dips in the right places. The opening guitar chords copy the start of "One Night" as well.  This isn't the best fake-Elvis record I've heard (that might be Ral Donner's "Girl of My Best Friend,") but it's not bad. I wouldn't replace "Mystery Train" with either, but on an iPod I can have all three of them.

When I was a teenager, I discovered "underground" music from Nirvana. I don't know if millions of teenagers who bought Nevermind proceeded to look for records by Half Japanese or Bikini Kill because Kurt Cobain talked up those bands in interviews, but I did. (And buying a Half Japanese record while living in suburban New Jersey was not easy; I eventually purchased their aptly-titled Greatest Hits double album by mail order directly from the Safe House label by mail order, thanks to an ad in the late Option magazine).

A major part of the underground music scene back then, before the Internet was available in most households (or even colleges*) was the music press. I followed fanzines and small press magazines like Option, Forced Exposure**, Puncture, and many others. And probably from reading one of them (but probably not FE), I learned of Archers of Loaf, a hot new band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, being touted on the indie-rock scene. My college's radio station was spinning their follow-up EP often as well. And one of my favorite bands, Superchunk, were from the same town. So, around that time, I bought their second album, Vee Vee. I should mention that, in college music circles of the time, the Archers were sometimes lumped in with Superchunk and Pavement (another band I loved), as something of a holy trinity of post-Nirvana indie rock bands that could be the next R.E.M. and make a commercial breakthrough from college radio airplay.

And I didn't like the album very much. I'm not writing this to bash the group. If you're a fan, that's fine; their music just doesn't move me. But I'm sure many teenage music fans go through the process of checking out a "hot" new band touted by the College Music Journal or (these days) Pitchfork and realizing that whatever appeals to plenty of other music heads isn't punching their ticket. (As an adult, I like to think I know better, at least a little). So I can say that my first experience of this came when I listened to Archers of Loaf.

So why are Archers of Loaf on my iPod? Years later, I'm married, and my wife owns a copy of their first album, Icky Mettle. I'm an open minded guy, and I'm willing to take a second chance on music from the perspective of a few more years, so I added the album to my iPod. The particular song that popped up on random is "You and Me." And I can say that, listening to it, I'm still not very enthused. The song borrows the Pixies' dynamic of playing verses at low volume and the choruses with the amps to eleven, with singer Eric Bachmann even screaming, Black Francis style. Nirvana had already been doing the same thing for a couple of years when this record was made, and Weezer*** would try again a couple of years later. It was gold for them, but not the Archers.

The lyrics to this song (and all of the Loaf tunes I've heard) are very oblique, and the song is absolutely free of a melody (something Nirvana and Weezer included in many of their songs, especially the hit singles). I can't be surprised that they didn't break through to a larger audience. The music isn't horrible - I heard plenty of college radio bands back then that were much worse - but it still doesn't excite me. The music is un-melodic, which is fine, but if music isn't going to reach for melody or harmony, I want it to try something improvisational or with unusual structure (the sort of thing Sonic Youth does, or Slint did in their short career), and the music doesn't really do that, either. Though, to give the band some credit, the rhythm section is muscular and drives "You and Me" just fine.

* The college I attended didn't provide Internet access to the entire student body until my sophomore year, and World Wide Web access with graphic-based browsers - remember Netscape? - until my junior year. Napster wasn't around until after I graduated.

**I discovered the great Forced Exposure with their last issue, the one with the great interview with Chris Knox that ran for over 30 pages, with dozens of footnotes.

***Also, early Spoon did much the same thing, but their music evolved quickly in other directions.