Gil-Scott Heron "Let Me See Your ID"

A Nelson Mandela-related Weekend Post:

"The word causalities comes up a lot . . . Nothing casual about dying."

I wrote yesterday about the "Sun City" song, and how it was one of the first "political message" records I had ever tuned into.  And that it was my first run-in with many artists that I would come to appreciate more deeply in the years to come (including Bonnie Raitt, Lou Reed, Joey Ramone and Little Steven himself).

Van Zandt's original intention was to just make a single.  But as more and more artists came on board, he found himself with more and more material.  Eventually, they stretched things out to a full length release.  Though . . . there was a lot of filler---like 3 remixes of "Sun City."

There were also some really interesting and important pieces.

"Let Me See Your ID" was my first run-in with Gil-Scott Heron.  And it was my first real experience with a sound collage.  Heron's spoken parts to this piece were so clear and direct, that it helped explain the situation in both a contextual and moral way.  The line I quote at the start of this post really struck me, and forced me to start thinking critically about the words we absorb, well, casually.

I think it's worth pointing out, again, that the work on this album is overlooked and under-appreciated as an early example of Rock musicians working with Rappers, and effectively bringing music that was associated with Black and Urban listeners to the White suburbs.

When you heard it for the first time, "Hey, what Peter Wolf is doing, is the same thing these rappers are doing," rap music made sense.

Definitely check out today's song.  But if you have 45 minutes, stream the whole album below.


Hear the song on Youtube.


Hear the full album on Youtube.

J Geils Band "Come Back"

How does it feel to know that mvyradio is going to "Come Back" to the FM dial on the Vineyard?

I felt like dancing like Peter Wolf does at the 3:01 mark!  (Or at least the 2:16 mark)

If you haven't heard the news that MVY is coming back on the FM on MV, read all about it on our Friends of mvyradio page.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Peter Wolf "Lights Out"

Here's another Weekend Post:

We were reading bedtime stories to our 3-year-old last night, and after the last one, my wife started singing this. Which was so weird and surprising and fun because she doesn't have this reservoir of lost hits rattling around in her brain like her husband.

She reserves that space for things like, you know, our checking account balance and stuff.


See the video on Youtube.

Click on the "Weekend Posts" label below, to see other posts like this.

The New Pornographers “The Crash Years”

Remember when you were in school and you had a huge crush on someone, you’d seem to see them everywhere?

You’d spy them in the lunch room. Single their face out of the crowd in the football stadium. See them going into their house as you happened to be riding your bike down their street which, yeah, is across town, but you were in the neighborhood, and you’re not actually stalking them . . . are you?

Okay, so sometimes your crushes can get a little obsessive. And it’s good to recognize that.

I mean, I recognize that I’m slightly obsessed with Neko Case.

And I’m okay with it, because my crush is on her voice. And the only place I’m stalking her is in the record bin.

But the spring has been an embarrassment of Neko riches.

In the best news, The New Pornographers have a new record, and the first single has Neko, who’s part of the NP cast of characters, on lead vocals.

And she’s popping up on other people’s records, too.

Jakob Dylan has her on 8 tracks of his new “Women + Country” album, including the duet “Everybody’s Hurting.”

Peter Wolf brought her in for “The Green Fields Of Summer” on his new record.

And Rosanne Cash has released a bonus track from her sessions from “The List,” featuring, yes, Neko Case, on “Satisfied Mind.” It’s available only as an iTunes exclusive.

Yeah, I’m slightly obsessed.


The Crash Years


“Everybody’s Hurting”


“The Green Fields Of Summer”