The Truth (About The Rumour) Is Evident

Graham Parker and The Rumour at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston, Mass.  12/6/12

Saw a terrific Graham Parker and The Rumor gig at the Wilbur Theatre last night. I've seen G.P. a dozen or so times since the mid ’80s, but I don’t recall ever seeing him so positively agitated. Playing all his early hits, not to mention his latest stellar release (Three Chords Good), with the original musicians who helped him mint them seems to have lit a fire under the old sardonic Brit.

An added bonus was a great opening set by G.P. sometime accompaniests and wonderful band in their own right, The Figgs. Our front row seats didn’t hurt either.

Being that close, made for an interesting sonic perspective. We caught more of the sound out of the band members’ individual amplifiers (hearing Martin Belmont’s delightfully clean and crisp vintage Strat tone the loudest since his amp was 10 feet directly in front of us). We caught a bit of bleed of the mixed sound out of the back of the stage monitors, as well as from the house PA sound that filled the space behind us in the small theater. Fortunately, Graham’s voice cut through loud and clear, but it did make for a bit of a different effect than one is accustomed to hearing. 

The new and old tunes fit seamlessly, with standout new tracks being the new “Coathangers” (which Graham noted had “stirred up a bit of controversy ... never a bad thing”) and “A Lie Gets Halfway ’Round the World” nearly matching the most inspired classics: “Protection,” “Get Started (Don’t Start a Fire),” “Stupefaction,” “Passion Is No Ordinary Word” and “Don’t Ask Me Questions.” 

I won’t be surprised to see an official live recording of this 2012 reunion tour before too long. I know I’d buy it. Despite their encroaching geezer-dom, G.P. and the guys proved without a doubt that, indeed, “Passion Is No Ordinary Word” when it comes to their music. 

Here’s looking at you, Graham!

SET LIST:
The Wilbur Theatre, Boston, Mass.
Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012
    •  Fool’s Gold
    •  Never Gonna Pull It Apart
    •  Hotel Chambermaid
    •  Coathangers
    •  Get Started (Start a Fire)
    •  Old Soul
    •  Stop Cryin’About the Rain
    •  Long Emotional Ride
    •  Live in Shadows
    •  A Lie Gets Halfway ’Round the World
    •  Watch the Moon Come Down
    •  Discovering Japan
    •  Nobody Hurts You
    •  Protection
    •  Stupefaction
    •  Local Girls
Encores:
    •  That Moon Was Low
    •  Passion Is No Ordinary Word
    •  Don’t Ask Me Questions
    •  Soul Shoes  (with The Figgs joining in)

Hindenburg

The Hindenburg over Boston, a year before the crash.

I’ve long been fascinated with the Hindenburg crash. Not sure why. I suspect that there are a number of factors that come into play. 

Yes, there’s the iconic association with my favorite rock band of all time, but there’s also my interest in history. Then there’s the relevance of the locale. The airship crashed about 25 miles from where I grew up and, I recently learned, it also routinely flew over my adopted home of Boston and eastern Massachusetts during its 17 Atlantic crossings prior to incendiary ends at the Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, N.J. 

Perhaps most of all, though, it may be the archetypal nature of the story, one of man stretching his mastery of the universe only to be humbled by the ultimate authority of nature (in this case in the form of static electricity).

Anyway, the point of all this is The Atlantic recently published a fascinating collection of a few dozen photos in tribute to the 75th anniversary of the Zeppelin’s disastrous end in May 1937.

The Feelies Touch Boston

The Feelies at The Paradise Club, Boston, 5/12/12

A small but enthusiastic crowd took in a characteristically lengthy, slowly-building set from The Feelies in what appears to be shaping up as an annual visit to Beantown. Almost exactly a year from the band’s last area appearance at Cambridge’s Middle East, the Jerseyites this time took the stage at The Paradise.

The two sets featured 34 songs, representing a wide selection from the cult heroes’ back catalog, as well as nine songs from 2011’s Here Before. True to form, they also sprinkled in quite a few choice covers, which included most of the usual selections and one surprise in Dylan’s “Seven Days.”  

SET LIST
The Paradise Rock Club, Boston  5/12/12
First Set
•  Bluer Skies*
•  For Now
•  There She Goes
•  Invitation
•  Nobody Knows
•  Should Be Gone
•  Let’s Go
•  Again Today
•  For Awhile
•  The High Road
•  On the Roof
•  When You Know
Second Set
•  Deep Fascination
•  On and On
•  Higher Ground
•  The Final Word
•  Away
•  Slipping (Into Something)
•  Doin’ It Again
•  Way Down
•  Time Is Right
•  Too Far Gone
•  Raised Eyebrows
•  Crazy Rhythms
Encore
•  Seven Days
•  Box Cars (Carnival of Sorts)
•  Paint It Black
•  Take It As It Comes
•  Fa Ce-La
•  Everybody’s Got Something to Hide
•  She Said She Said
•  I Go to Sleep in Your Arms
•  Later On
•  So Far
* Not sure if this was the opening track since I arrived mid song on this one.

The New Old Paradise

Blitzen Trapper’s 11/4/10 performance was the first show I’ve seen at the recently renovated Paradise Rock Club. As the perennial best mid-size (800 capacity) club in Boston, The Paradise has, at one time or another, hosted most of the major rock acts of the last three decades on their journey up the stairway to stardom, not to mention most of the best local artists, too. The transformation of the club that took place late this summer is interesting in that it left significant parts of the venue untouched, while radically transforming others.

The entryway and hallway to the performance area are more open and inviting, with the adjacent front Lounge area gussied up, more accessible to the main venue and looking less like an afterthought (apparently, they’re promoting it as a pre-show dining option). Most notable is the gutting of the first floor area underneath the small balcony that wraps around 3/4 of the club. This creates much easier access and maneuverability on the first floor, as well as a somewhat claustrophobic effect if you find yourself camped out for long under the now very low-ceilinged sections beneath the balcony.

Once out from under the balcony, things remain pretty much the same. One of the back bars has been enlarged and moved to the left side of the club, under the deepest part of the balcony. The stage has been moved 10 feet or so to the left, so that the infamous big round central pillar is no longer staring lead singers right in the face from a few feet away, or creating a visual and physical obstacle for the crowd right in front. You’d think that would be a major improvement and, for a small portion of the crowd and the musicians at centerstage, it is. However, it creates a situation where two pillars, located a few feet from each corner of the stage, are now more of an obstruction. So while the obstruction is no longer right in front of the center of the stage, now 2/3 of the audience’s view is somewhat blocked, as opposed to only about 1/3 in the former set up (albeit the all-important center).

But it is what it is, and the new configuration probably just takes some getting used to. Having seen in the neighborhood of 100 shows there over the last 25 years, it might take me a little while. However, it remains my favorite place to see national-level acts in Boston.

A view I’ve approached countless times

over the past 25 years: One of the few

near-constants in my adult life!

“A Secret Life” ... Unearthed!

I just stumbled across this wonderful, nostalgia-inducing video clip of The Raindogs at the beloved old Bunratty’s club in Allston, Mass. (OK, it was pretty much a dive, but a fondly remembered one, nonetheless, in that I saw plenty of great music there back in the day). The date was May 19, 1989, and I was there, enjoying this performance by one of my favorite local Boston bands, with my future wife and one of my best friends.

I saw The Raindogs play around town dozens and dozens of times between 1988 and when they broke up in 1993 or so, and this show was one of my favorites. I know because I recorded a bunch of them, and I’ve listened to this live tape more than any of the others over the years. (In fact, I recognized this clip right away from the familiar to me, but otherwise unique, introduction that singer/songwriter/guitarist Mark Cutler bestowed upon the song that night.) I gave Cutler a copy of my audio recording a few years ago, but I never suspected any video of this night existed.

I remember this Bunratty’s gig as being a raucously energetic show. The crowd was really into it, especially at the end, and the band delivered a polished, yet inspired, performance.

This song, “A Secret Life,” came about midway through the 17 song set. It was one of the evening’s slower, more low-key moments. But it nicely exemplifies Cutler’s poignant songcraft and provides a fleeting remembrance of late Scottish fiddle master Johnny Cunningham’s seemingly effortless and always spot-on playing, not to mention guitarist Emerson Torrey’s essential and all-too-easily-taken-f0r-granted backing vocals.

A couple of songs after this one, the band cranked things up and let loose with abandon during the set’s finale. A momentous, increasingly unleashed trio of tunes started with “Dirty Town” and segued into “Carry Your Cross” and, finally, “Time Stand Still,” during which Cutler screamed his throat raw while the rest of the band fueled the frenzy behind him.

So this video hit me as a pleasant blast from the past that, despite being a bit dated around the edges, still resounds nicely today … as good songs, well-performed always do.

And now, I can’t help but wonder: Is there video for the rest of this performance?

Boston’s Best All-Time Pop Music Artists?

Last weekend, The Sunday Globe Magazine published a round-up of what they deemed “Boston’s 25 Greatest Pop Music Artist Ever.”

Like most of these lists, this one (compiled by three veteran Globe music writers) hits most of the obvious marks (Aerosmith, J. Geils Band, Boston, The Cars, Pixies et al), as well as a few more under-the-radar essentials (Jonathan Richman, Mission of Burma). Mainly, the list suffers from having to corral such a wide ranging cast of characters. Yes, Donna Summer and New Kids on the Block deserve to be on a list attempting to encompass all genres of popular music over the last half a century, but in whose world do those artist occupy the same space as Joan Baez?

I appreciate a wide range of musical styles, but this just seems a bit off. Such is the dilemma (and demise?) for major metropolitan daily newspapers these days: How do you succeed trying to be all things to all people?

Perhaps separate lists by genre would’ve made more sense, and allowed for inclusion of a few of the unfortunate omissions (the article even had a sidebar listing acts the compilers really regretted not being able to include in the top 25). Maybe the original assignment was for the Top 40 artists of all time and some evil editor (or lack of adequate advertising sales) dictated a last minute paring down of the list to a mere 25 spread over four or more genres of popular music.

Scope aside, I have no major beef with the list as published (see below). That said, I am disappointed (though not terribly surprised) that several of the acts that stand out to me as among the greats of the once proud and mighty Boston music scene were ignored.

In place of the disco artists and boy bands on the Globe’s list, I would have included 1980’s and 1990’s stalwarts like Push Push and Dennis Brennan, The Raindogs, O Positive, The Del Fuegos, The Neighborhoods, The Cave Dogs, and Scruffy the Cat, or even Shy Five – all of whom played an important part in making Boston a musical town to be reckoned with. And while most of these bands did this through numerous energy-filled, sweat-drenched appearances at clubs like The Rat, The Tam, The Paradise, The Channel, T.T. The Bear’s, Jack’s, Club III, etc., several also put out some outstanding records (a few of which actually sold beyond the borders of the Bay State).

Furthermore, since folk fits with rock more than disco and boy bands (at least in my world) and The Globe did acknowledge folkies James Taylor and Joan Baez, how could Bill Morrissey and Tracy Chapman be overlooked? And while Boston has long been a renowned blues-loving town, is there not a single homegrown blues musician worthy of inclusion? Ronnie Earl? Bonnie Raitt? Jerry Portnoy? James Montgomery? (C’mon! They merit a sidebar, at least!)

I do give the Globies extra kudos for the inclusion of Morphine, a band all-too-easily overlooked, but who were so far ahead of their time (or was it simply beyond time?) and everyone else in producing the ultimate in smokey, jazzy, bluesy, minimalist cool. (R.I.P., Mark Sandman!)

The Globe’s 25 Best

In an attempt to protect their content assets, The Globe no longer allows free online access to the full text of many of their articles. Too bad, in this case, because the write-ups that accompanied the list were entertaining, as well as insightfully and knowledgeably written. You can read a brief summary of the feature here, or shell out a few bucks to see the full unattractive web presentation of the article. Better yet, if you’re in New England, at least, see if your local library has a back issue of The Globe Magazine from 8/8/10.

The Boston Pop Hit Hit Parade

1. Aerosmith

2. Pixies

3. James Taylor

4. Donna Summer

5. The Cars

6. J. Geils Band / Peter Wolf

7. Joan Baez

8. New Edition

9. New Kids on the Block

10. Aimee Mann / ’Til Tuesday

11. Boston

12. Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers

13. Mission of Burma

14. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones

15. The Lemonheads (one of the most over-rated bands in pop history, in my book)

16. Dropkick Murphys

17. The Remains

18. Galaxie 500

19. Morphine

20. Amanda Palmer / Dresden Dolls

21. Guster

22. Tavares

23. Dick Dale (who knew, the king of surf guitar caught his first waves in Quincy?)

24. Tom Rush

25. The G-Clefs (Who?!)

Among the “we would have liked to have mentioned” artists listed by the authors in a sidebar were: Letters to Cleo and Buffalo Tom. Both worthy occupiers of the fringe of classic Beantown popdom, but neither quite to my taste.

FURTHER

• For a more detailed perspective on the glory years of the Boston music scene, check out Brett Milano’s excellent 2007 book, The Sound of Our Town. I’ve seen many a local club show over the years in the shadow of Brett’s benignly hulking figure.