Center Of The Universe #21

Giant Sand, “Center Of The Universe”
Bo Diddley, “Nursery Rhyme”
English Beat, “Save It For Later”
Mekons, “I Love Apple”

Welcome to the Center Of The Universe! After our theme song comes a delightful if dubious excuse for Bo Diddley to exploit his eternal beat, one of the English Beat’s most successful songs in the US (though it missed the Top 40 in the UK entirely, despite four previous Top 10s), and a Mekons love song that was intended for Warner Bros but wound up on their Touch & Go debut. The title's font heart sign must confuse computers, as the track is listed as “I ? Apple” online, and either everyone’s amused or nobody cares. Is this another week of righteous randomosity? You know it!

James Brown, “Lost Someone”
Killers, “Bling (Confessions Of A King)”
Tzusing, “Balkanize”
Pink Floyd, “Breathe (In The Air)”

Don’t tell the suits, but James Brown admitted this heartbreaking R&B hit from 1961 is based on a chord progression jacked from Conway Twitty! I can’t take the Killers too seriously (I have a hard enough time with Bruce Springsteen) but I always liked this beautifully titled bit of ridiculousness from Sam’s Town. Will Green Hat by Malaysian/Chinese DJ Tzusing make my best albums of 2023? I haven’t a damn clue, but this track is pretty cool by this occasional owner of Dig Your Own Hole. Further proof of coolness: I just discovered I like Dark Side Of The Moon. While previous claims to prefer Radiohead’s cosmic ennui because they’re post-punk instead of post-blues remain true, I guess my study of such fellow psuedo-blues legends as J.J. Cale and Steve Miller has softened me.

Sex Pistols, “EMI”
Desaparecidos, “Underground Man”
Curtis Mayfield, “(Don’t Worry) If There’s A Hell Below, We’re All Going To Go”
Hives, “Outsmarted”

How do you deal with the Dark Side track segues on a digital playlist? By dramatically cutting from Pink Floyd on EMI to the kid with the “I Hate Pink Floyd” shirt singing “EMI”! Brilliant, I know. Then we’ve got later quirky commercial punk projects Desaparecidos and The Hives, interrupted by Curtis Mayfield’s debut solo single. Did you watch the Succession finale? I didn’t! I’d love to say it’s because I hate the humanizing of billionaires, the transformation of current corporate evil into a post-Sorkin Dynasty redux, people earnestly debating which characters “won” and got a fair shake. But really I just can’t get past the cinematography. Hand-held camera work as campily restless as the “Jenny From The Block” video (it suggests authenticity, you see), sudden zoom-ins for effect more obnoxious than on a faux-documentary sitcom. Not that anyone’s treating this show as anything more than “good TV,” anyway.

Blues Busters, “I Won’t Let You Go”
Mudhoney, “Into Yer Shtik”
The Birthday Party, “Waving My Arms”
Breeders, “Safari”

The Blues Busters, a Jamaican duo remembered partly for the direct influence of Sam Cooke after he visited the island, with one of two songs we’ll hear from the Trojan Ska comp I’ve got. Then Mudhoney in 1995 shits all over their more successful peers and those who enabled them, one of the rare Birthday Party songs I mess with that isn’t on Hits, and the title track of a great EP every Breeders fan too young for the Tanya Donnelly era better make sure they’ve heard. While I didn’t watch Succession, Barry might be the first show since Breaking Bad where I watched the last half of the last season in real-ish time. Hader and company stuck the landing even better, as far as I’m concerned. But I don’t want to say much so that maybe I’ll be compelled to write a post about it.

Waco Brothers, “DIYBYOB”
Cat Power, “Headlights”
The Four Aces, “Hoochy-Koochy Kai Po”
Rival Schools, “The Switch”

Last week I included the Three Johns. This week I’ve got a Jon Langford Mekons song and one from his other band The Waco Brothers! They’re sort of like the modern Three Johns, where Langford can play co-lead banana with a (slightly) more macho, (slightly) less literary version of the sound the Mekons are making concurrently. The Wacos have survived a lot longer though, almost 30 years in the game (this track’s from 2016). Can’t really call them a Mekons/Wreck/Jesus Jones alt-country supergroup now, can we? Then we’ve got a re-recording of Cat Power’s debut single, another song from the Trojan Ska comp (this group soon changing their name to the Aces lest they be mistaken for the American act), and a song from Rival Schools’ United By Fate, Walter Schreifels’ post-Quicksand dive into the commercial alt-rock sound just a few years late. But a solid one!

Hot Chocolate, “Every 1’s A Winner”
Julian Lennon, “Too Late For Goodbyes”
Drive Like Jehu, “Golden Brown”
Scree, “Fatigue”

My favorite Hot Chocolate hit of many great ones. My favorite Julian Lennon hit of a couple I wouldn’t recognize, and one I appreciate for actually sounding more like the elder Nilsson than the elder Lennon in its bitter humor. I will forever regret not driving down to San Diego to see Drive Like Jehu reunite to play with an organist in the Spreckles Organ Pavillion. They didn’t play “Golden Brown” in that set, but they played it at reunion shows since. Scree is another instrumental act with a 2023 album I need to listen to more. Beat me to it if you haven’t already!

Public Enemy, “Revelation 33 1/3 Revolutions”
Tori Amos, “Father Lucifer”
Aerosmith, “Lick And A Promise”
The Temptations, “Zoom”

Public Enemy (with Sister Souljah!) on the He Got Game soundtrack. I rarely notice big mistakes on Genius but I’m quite sure Souljah says “false agendas that don’t include me” rather than “false genitals that don’t include me” on the track. Not that I’d assume her to have an enlightened take on trans issues based on what I’ve been able to google, sadly. Track rules, though. I recently listened to Tori Amos’ Boys For Pele for the first time since the cassette days, and it’s definitely my favorite now of what I’ve heard, the alt-explosion encouraging her to lean harder into the eccentric through positive (I think I hear some PJ Harvey) and negative example (she definitely felt exiled in Guyville). Then we’ve got Guyville at its best, early Aerosmith’s most euphoric crow about sex and stardom, right before the wheels came off. Someday I’ll make a thorough playlist of Norman Whitfield’s work with the Temptations, but for now…here’s a 13 minute “Zoom” from the Center Of The Universe to the moon on the 1973 semi-concept album 1990 that inspired top Temptation Otis Williams to complain to Berry Gordy and get Whitfield removed from the act's recording process. Thanks for your time!

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