Good old days

"Weird Al" Yankovic is probably the most famous song parodist of the modern musical age.

A lot of his song parodies are embedded in pop culture - some notables include Fat, Eat it, Like a surgeon and Pretty fly (for a rabbi).

But those who have heard some of his albums in their entirety know that he is also the master of the style, or genre parody. His favourite genre has always been the polka; he almost always includes a polka of some form on his albums. I still remember how much I laughed when I first heard Bohemian polka, a word-for-word remake of Queen's classic Bohemian rhapsody. But...in polka form.

For me, a lot of his songs transcend parody. The guy is an incredibly underrated musician and lyricist. Sure, it's novelty music. But it's novelty music done to perfection by an accomplished performer and songwriter. Someone has to do this sort of music well, and I'm glad that it's Weird Al.

Have a listen to Good old days, from his 1988 album Even worse.

This is both a musical and lyrical parody. Musically, it takes the piss out of the whole early 70's singer-songwriter genre. It's a country ballad that wouldn't sound too out of place on a James Taylor or Jackson Browne album.

But it's the lyrical content that brings a smile to my face, but maybe that's because I'm a bit warped. The closest reference point is Warren Zevon, whose catchy melodies were mere fronts for his macabre lyrical content. The juxtaposition of the cheery music with the morbid lyrics is something that had to be heard to be believed.

When I was on RocKwiz in early 2005, I told Julia Zemiro that the first album I ever purchased was Even worse. I just listened to the whole album on my lunchtime walk, and it still holds up well over the years. Yeah, it's probably the nostalgia talking. But it's also the quality of songs like Good old days, which bring a smile to my face every time I hear them.

Weird Al is the man.

MP3: "Weird Al" Yankovic - Good old days [Link removed]

Update: Song links removed.

Early Whitlams: Undeniably brilliant

It's been way too long since my last post. Sorry, I've been pretty flat out at work and haven't had a lot of spare time. I'll try and post more regularly but I'm not promising anything.

Some of you may have heard of the Whitlams, an Australian piano-based pop/rock band led by Tim Freedman. They were relatively unknown until 1997, when their breakthrough album Eternal nightcap was released. I got into them after hearing a few tracks like You sound Louis Burdett and Buy now pay later in a friend's car. I was immediately impressed with the catchiness of their music; Louis Burdett was (and still is) a gem of a song, a great jazzy toe-tapper that sounds so familiar you swear you've known it your whole life. Buy now pay later was (and still is) a thing of beauty with a heartfelt Tim Freedman vocal and deeply sad lyrics. It seemed like they had all the bases covered, and they were Aussie! So the patriot in me went out and bought that album, and it is still one of the great albums of all time (even if it doesn't get as many spins as it used to).

Since Eternal nightcap, the Whitlams have faded into complete insignificance. The Whitlams is no longer a cohesive unit, but merely a moniker for Tim Freedman and whoever happens to be in the band at the time. They have released 3 post-Nightcap albums - Love this city (1999), Torch the moon (2002) and Little cloud (2006). While each album has had some decent moments, they have lost so much of the spark that made them so good to start with that they truly don't deserve to trade under the Whitlams name. Some of my friends have even given them the name the Shitlams, just as a hint of where they're at nowadays.

Prior to Nightcap, the Whitlams represented the musical trio of Tim Freedman, Stevie Plunder and Andy Lewis (with a few mates joining them now and then). Stevie Plunder (real name Anthony Hayes) was found dead on Australia Day 1996 at the bottom of Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains, shortly after the release of their second album Undeniably the Whitlams. It was suspected to be a suicide. He was still a core member of the Whitlams at the time of his death, and after a period of mourning Tim Freedman decided to continue on with the band without him. Many of the lyrics of Eternal nightcap had themes of death, suicide and depression -- indicating the state of mind of Tim during the recording of the album. The brilliant Charlie song trilogy on the album was supposedly about Stevie.

Andy Lewis had left the band in 1995. In 2000, he committed suicide while apparently battling a gambling addiction. Tim wrote the song The curse stops here (originally a B-side of Blow up the pokies and later included on Little cloud) about the deaths of Stevie and Andy, indicating that he's the only surviving member of the original Whitlams lineup.

Now to the point of this post. I need to draw your attention to the musical brilliance of the original Whitlams lineup. If you have only heard their post-Nightcap music, you are truly missing out on one of the great Australian bands of the early 90's. Early Whitlams had passion and soul, which is everything the Shitlams are missing with their overpolished commercial schmaltz. On those first two albums, they sounded like they were having fun. They could make you laugh one second, but were also never afraid to get deep lyrically.

Stevie sung about half of the songs on the early Whitlams recordings, and while his vocals lacked the sheen of Tim's, he made up for that with his honesty. You believed what he sung - he was a heavy drinker, a larrikin and a real character. And those are the kind of things he sung about! Just give a listen to Happy days (from their first album Introducing the Whitlams). If this is the first early Whitlams song you've heard, you wouldn't even think in a million years that it is the same band. Also listen to I'm different, a Tim-lead cover of the Randy Newman song (also from their first album). Sure, there are differences between these two songs vocally, but they also share something in common that is missing from so much of today's overproduced music. Fun. Passion. Honesty. Soul.

In my opinion, the Whitlams peaked on their second album Undeniably the Whitlams. Introducing was a great taster of their sound, but at only 27 minutes it merely whet the appetite. And while that first album was pretty solid, it did sometimes approach novelty music territory to be truly taken seriously. They kept all the musical elements of their sound on Undeniably, but Stevie injected a lot of lyrical depth into his songs which elevated it considerably above its predecessor. Following my own tracks is damn spooky in hindsight, knowing that Stevie would be found dead within less than a year. Listen to the lyrics and you'll see what I mean. It's still my favourite Whitlams song, because it has the perfect mix of melody and deep, meaningful lyrics.

But early Whitlams was more than just the individual achievements of Stevie and Tim. It was also about the chemistry between the two of them, and no song illustrates this better than I get high from Undeniably. It starts with a [in hindsight once again] spooky answering machine message left by Stevie to Tim after a big night out, before the piano kicks off a toe-tapping gem of a song where Stevie and Tim trade vocals like they are going out of fashion. Not a lot different in sound to some of the more upbeat songs from Eternal nightcap, except that it's got Stevie in there and that elevates it into the realm of brilliance.

If you have only heard later period Whitlams, do yourself a favour (thanks Molly) and give early Whitlams a go. They may not have the semi-high profile of later period Whitlams but they are oh-so-much-better, and their first two albums are hidden gems which deserve to be discovered and cherished by more people.

The "Timmy" marathon

No, I am not talking about the disabled kid from South Park. I'm talking about this dude, the lead singer of seminal Aussie act You Am I:


Every now and then, I decide to run a marathon on my iPod. This is where I put the iPod on shuffle, select an artist, and let it run through their whole discography (or as much of their discography that I have). I did this in lieu of purchasing their new album Convicts, which I will probably not be doing now after both Pete and Dean gave it their thumbs-down.

Anyway, it was an interesting experience. I'd like to share some of the observations that I had while listening to their entire discography in shuffle, as the randomization of it all made me notice things that I wouldn't normally notice if I was only listening to their albums the natural way.

My own private gig

The experience felt like my own little personal gig, although instead of it going for 2 hours, it went for a few days! And there wasn't the chance that they weren't going to play one of my favourite songs, because I'd get to hear all their songs!

Pete and I have this game which we play at gigs where we try and guess the opening and closing songs. I bet you are dying to know what the opening and closing cuts of my "gig" were. No? Well I'm going to tell you anyway. The opener was City lights from Deliverance, and the closer was One trick tony from the same album. Neither particularly seem suited for those positions in a gig.

It was getting exciting as I neared the end of the marathon, trying to work out what songs haven't been played. Some cuts were held back to late in the marathon - Berlin chair didn't make an appearance until track 77 (out of 88). Heavy heart was track 71. Good mornin' didn't play until track 83.

Hourly, Daily is da bomb

I knew this before, but this marathon simply reinforced it - Hourly, daily is a fantastic album. Every time a cut from this album came up, it brought a smile to my face -- such songwriting perfection. What's great about this album is how brilliantly it works as a whole, but even when hearing a song out of context you can appreciate it just as much. For those who aren't familiar with this album, it's a suburban concept album. You could say it's You Am I's answer to Blur's The great escape, but oh-so-much better.

The sound of Hi Fi Way

I have always considered their second album Hi Fi Way to be a slightly less polished (and rockier) version of Hourly, Daily. But hearing Hi Fi Way and their debut Sound As Ever side-by-side, I'd say that the sound of Hi Fi Way is more similar in sound to their debut. While their debut is fairly average (except for a few choice cuts like Berlin chair), Hi Fi Way ups the songwriting stakes immensely and adds some much needed melodies to the mix.

And I just gotta say that How much is enough is a brilliant song and a great closing cut on that album.

Their path down the country road

Listening to their 2002 album Deliverance, you could almost mistake You Am I for a country-rock band. While Tim has definitely recorded a lot of country music as part of his solo work (his excellent solo album What rhymes with cars and girls being the best example), this sound did seem to come a little bit out of nowhere for the band. During the marathon, I discovered that he and the band started hinting at a country sound a lot earlier than Deliverance. Give another listen to the twang in Timmy's voice in End of the line (from Dress me slowly) and you will hear what I mean.

Their low points

I defended Deliverance when it came out, as some of my mates were bagging it a little bit. But there's no doubt that, together with Sound as ever, it represents the low-point of their catalogue (obviously I can't comment on Convicts, because I don't have it).

Having said that, there are some hidden gems on Deliverance that sound pretty great when listened to in isolation. Notably, Ribbons and bows is vintage You Am I and some of the ballads like The wrong side now are quite beautiful songs that make the most of Timmy's ailing vocal chords.

Timmy's vocals

And that's a great segue into the next discussion point, which is sure to be a controversial one. Even the biggest Timmy defenders will find it hard to deny that his voice has definitely degraded over the years, and not in a cool Tom Waits kinda way.

While most You Am I fans will point to Deliverance as the point at which his voice started to go downhill, I'd like to offer an alternate hypothesis. I think Timmy's voice started going a lot earlier, but the quality of the songwriting and the musical backing often shielded the listener from this. Exhibit A: Get up from Dress me slowly. Give a listen to this track, and try to separate his vocals from the rest of the mix. They aren't as good as they once were, are they? Luckily, it's a killer tune so you don't really care.

Change of sound over the years

I've already talked about their progression towards country-rock, now for a general overview of their evolution.

Sound as ever is generic garage rock. There's some great tunes that would hint at their future brilliance, like Berlin chair and Jaimme's got a gal. But I can honestly do without most of their debut album. Not many of the cuts gave me a what a song! feeling. And what's the deal with the penultimate track Off the field? Who is singing that song? Sure doesn't sound like Timmy.

Hi fi way really shows them carving out their niche in the Aussie rock circuit. The rockers have a purpose, ballads like Purple sneakers and Handwasher show that they have a lot more depth and that they aren't just one trick ponies. While this album has its fair share of brilliant moments, their best was yet to come.

Hourly, daily is where it all came together. The best ballads, the best rockers, classic pop songs. A suburban concept that weaved a thread throughout, making the album an experience rather than just a series of songs. This is the best place to start with the band.

They almost went back to their earlier sound on #4 record. It was definitely less polished than Hourly, daily but they also added horns here and there to make the sound a bit more interesting. It's probably their most standard rock record, with some of their most well-known songs like Heavy heart and Rumble thrown in for good measure. One thing that I really noticed in the marathon is that they are a lot of lesser known songs on this album that are really good -- Cream and the crock, Plans and Come home wit' me being some great examples.

Dress me slowly had them going back to the more polished sound of Hourly, daily. It's an incredibly solid album with one classic after another, and probably the only thing it lacks over that earlier album is flow and conceptual unity. But there's an abundance of excellent songs on this album, including some of my absolute favourites like Weeds and Damage.

Deliverance was a big step down. I've already talked a lot about this album, the one where the country sound was pushed to the front and you suddenly realised that they were quite a different band than the one you fell in love with. There are some great songs on this album, you just have to dig around to find them.

Perhaps Pete or Dean can reply with their comments on their new album Convicts, since I don't have this one.

Live shennanigans

My copy of #4 record has a bonus disc called Radio settee (Big Star fans will pick this as a tribute to their first 2 albums #1 record and Radio city). Often some of these lives cuts would show up in the mix, and there's some interesting covers on there that I hadn't noticed before. Fox on the run by 70's glam rockers The Sweet, Lookin' for a kiss by the New York Dolls and Live with me by the Rolling Stones. I actually have the New York Dolls album that has the original version of Lookin' for a kiss, so it was interesting to hear the You Am I version which I couldn't even remember existed.

It's all in the mix

The iPod has this feature called smart shuffle which is supposed to prevent tracks from the same album being played after each other when the iPod is in shuffle mode. After doing this marathon, I can honestly say that this shuffle ain't so smart.

Here's several examples where 3 tracks in a row came from the same album:

Trike, Junk and Fox on the run (all from Radio Settee)
Mr milk, Moon shines on trubble and Tuesday (all from Hourly, Daily)
Cathy's clown, Gray and Jewels and bullets (all from Hi Fi Way)
Billy, Berlin chair and Mr Milk (all from Radio Settee)
Off the field, Who's leaving you now? and Coprolalia (all from Sound As Ever)

The marathon experience

Overall, this You Am I music marathon was a great experience. This is the second time I have done something like this (the first time being The Replacements, which inspired this post). I hope to do it again some time, with another band. But it has to be a band that doesn't have too many songs, otherwise it will take a week to get through them all. Less than 100 is a good number. Any suggestions?

Some samples

Finally, here's some samples of their work for those who haven't heard much of them. Thanks for reading!

You Am I - If We Can't Get It Together [Link Removed]
You Am I - How Much Is Enough [Link Removed]
You Am I - Weeds [Link Removed]

Appendix - Marathon set list

For the really bored ;-)

Track#	Song	Album
1	City Lights	Deliverance
2	Nifty Lil' Number Like You	Deliverance
3	Jaimme's Got a Gal	Sound As Ever
4	Trainspottin'	Sound As Ever
5	Damage	Dress Me Slowly
6	Soldiers	Hourly, Daily
7	Flag Fall $1.80	Hourly, Daily
8	Handwasher	Hi Fi Way
9	The Cream And The Crock	#4 Record
10	Who Put The Devil In You	Deliverance
11	Deliverance	Deliverance
12	Ordinary	Sound As Ever
13	Weeds	Dress Me Slowly
14	Heavy Comfort	Hourly, Daily
15	What I Dont Know About You	#4 Record
16	Doug Sahm	Dress Me Slowly
17	Come Home Wit' Me	#4 Record
18	Trike	Radio Settee
19	Junk	Radio Settee
20	Fox On The Run	Radio Settee
21	Bring Some Sun Back	Dress Me Slowly
22	Punkarella	Hi Fi Way
23	Mr Milk	Hourly, Daily
24	Moon Shines On Trubble	Hourly, Daily
25	Tuesday	Hourly, Daily
26	When You Know What You Want	Deliverance
27	Judge Roy	Dress Me Slowly
28	Billy	#4 Record
29	Ain't Gone and Open	Hi Fi Way
30	Minor Byrd	Hi Fi Way
31	Everyone's to Blame	Sound As Ever
32	Gone, Gone, Gone	Dress Me Slowly
33	Guys, Girls, Guitars	#4 Record
34	Who Takes Who Home?	Hourly, Daily
35	Words For Sadness	Deliverance
36	How Much Is Enough	Hi Fi Way
37	Satisified Mind	Dress Me Slowly
38	End O' The Line	Dress Me Slowly
39	Ken (The Mother Nature's Son)	Hi Fi Way
40	Kick A Hole In The Sky	Dress Me Slowly
41	Ribbons And Bows	Deliverance
42	Live With Me	Radio Settee
43	Dead Letter Chorus	Hourly, Daily
44	Heavy Heart	#4 Record
45	Hourly, Daily	Hourly, Daily
46	Someone Else's Home	Hourly, Daily
47	Cathy's Clown	Hi Fi Way
48	Gray	Hi Fi Way
49	Jewels And Bullets	Hi Fi Way
50	Watcha Doin' To Me	Dress Me Slowly
51	Billy	Radio Settee
52	Berlin Chair	Radio Settee
53	Mr. Milk	Radio Settee
54	Crash	Deliverance
55	'Til The Clouds Roll Away	Deliverance
56	Junk	#4 Record
57	The Applecross Wing Commander	Hi Fi Way
58	Purple Sneakers	Hi Fi Way
59	Adam's Rib	Sound As Ever
60	If We Can't Get It Together	Hourly, Daily
61	Sugar	Dress Me Slowly
62	Looking For A Kiss	Radio Settee
63	Beautiful Girl	Dress Me Slowly
64	Nuthin's Ever Gone Be The Same Again	Deliverance
65	Top Of The Morn' And Slip Of The Day	#4 Record
66	Forever and Easy	Sound As Ever
67	Plans	#4 Record
68	Rumble	#4 Record
69	Sound As Ever	Sound As Ever
70	Heavy Heart	Radio Settee
71	Baby Clothes	Hourly, Daily
72	Rosedale	Sound As Ever
73	Fifteen	#4 Record
74	...And Vandalism	#4 Record
75	The Wrong Side Now	Deliverance
76	Berlin Chair	Sound As Ever
77	Wally Raffles	Hourly, Daily
78	Stray	Hi Fi Way
79	Pizza Guy	Hi Fi Way
80	Please Don't Ask Me To Smile	Hourly, Daily
81	You Scare Me	Sound As Ever
82	Good Mornin'	Hourly, Daily
83	Get Up	Dress Me Slowly
84	She Digs Her	Hi Fi Way
85	Off the Field	Sound As Ever
86	Who's Leaving You Now?	Sound As Ever
87	Coprolalia	Sound As Ever
88	One Trick Tony	Deliverance

UPDATE: Song links removed.

The Replacements

The Replacements are one of those great undiscovered rock bands. In a parallel universe they would have been bigger than Bon Jovi and Guns 'n' Roses. Instead, they have a cult following with a small fanbase who simply adore them.

Led by the charismatic Paul Westerberg, they released 7 albums in their 13 year reign from 1979 to 1991. Their widely-accepted career peak ran from 1984 to 1987 where they released their holy trilogy: Let it be, Tim and Pleased to meet me. Most of their other albums had moments of brilliance, but none were quite as good as those 3 albums.

Unfortunately, even the albums that made up that trilogy had their fair share of filler on them. I'm of the school of thought that the 'Mats (as they are affectionately known to their fans) never released a completely solid album. And while this is incredibly disappointing for me (being such a fan of the album format), they have left such an unforgettable legacy in their songs that you can't help but forgive the lads. In a way, it's all part of their charm -- you can't hold it against them for deciding to include a throwaway song like Gary's got a boner in amongst timeless tunes like Unsatisfied and Sixteen blue.

They played by their own rules, and they were all the better for it. Their film clip for Bastards of young was a black and white clip of a stereo playing the tune. Yes, you read that right. A still image of a stereo. Can you imagine any band getting away with that in the current era of cliched film clips, where record companies care more about style and image over musical substance? It just wouldn't happen anymore. Bands are simply brands nowadays, investments to record company shareholders. If they don't earn the moolah, they are sent on their merry way. The Replacements were a band who were clearly marketable, but they simply refused to let the possibility of worldwide success get in the way of their artistic vision. They kept it real throughout their whole career, and it paid off because they left us with a legacy of passionately real rock music. They are the antithesis of over-produced record company darlings like Creed, Nickleback and their ilk.

But there's more to these guys than just the music. Paul Westerberg is also the master of the witty lyric, and he has written many couplets that would make other lyrical geniuses like Elvis Costello proud. Here's a quote from Bastards of young from Tim:

The ones who love us best are the ones we’ll lay to rest
And visit their graves on holidays at best
The ones who love us least are the ones we’ll die to please
If it’s any consolation, I don’t begin to understand them

Who can seriously say they cannot relate to this? How many times have you tried ever so hard to please someone that you have absolutely no respect for? Meanwhile neglecting those that you love, because you know (or at least you hope) they will always be there for you? Westerberg is up there with Tom Waits as one of the few real conveyors of human emotion through lyric.

I have recently come to the conclusion that the 'Mats are almost the ultimate mixtape band. As I said, they never released a masterpiece of an album. But they have so many brilliant songs tucked away on all of their albums that these songs need to be taken out of context and listened to as the microcosms of pop/rock perfection that they are. They are the first band that has inspired me to create and arrange a playlist on my iPod of their best moments.

Here's some of my favourite Replacements songs, one from each of their "career peak" albums. I think these songs cover a wide range of styles; Unsatisfied is emotion-driven rock at its finest (long before the unfortunate marketing term emo became overused), the aforementioned Bastards of young is one of their finest rock anthems and Skyway is an acoustic guitar standard that is almost unbearable in its beauty. I hope you enjoy them, and I hope it's the beginning of your love affair with the 'Mats.

The Replacements - Unsatisfied [Link Removed]
The Replacements - Bastards of young [Link Removed]
The Replacements - Skyway [Link Removed]

Let me know what you think!

UPDATE: Due to popular demand, AAC files have been replaced with MP3 ones. So you should now be able to listen to them through WinAmp, Media Player or whatever else you want to use. They will stay up for another week.

UPDATE: Song links removed.

Tom Waits is da man

Many people who know me well know that I am a huge Tom Waits fan. Anyway, this post is not about his music (although I could dedicate many large posts to that topic).

The guy is simply a legend. Not only is he a brilliantly unique musician and songwriter, he's also incredibly witty (you only have to hear his live album Nighthawks at the diner to see this side of his personality). He has also dabbled in acting as well, with roles in the Jim Jarmusch movies Down By Law and Coffee & Cigarettes as well as countless others. I have yet to see Down By Law, but his role in Coffee & Cigarettes (where he chats with Iggy Pop) is simply brilliant.

Despite his obvious talent, it's this article which I read this morning which really sums up the guy. He absolutely, positively, without a doubt refuses to sell out. But it's the way that he chases after and beats the bad guys who try to tarnish his name that elevates him to the epitome of cool.

I think I'll go listen to Rain dogs now.