Something 4 The Weekend # 100

For this, the 100th installment of S4TW, I thought I'd do something a little extra, and cull a song from each of my ten desert island discs...Simple as that...

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10: Pink Floyd: Animals: "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" [mp3] It was a girl that introduced me to Pink Floyd...It happened in 6th grade music class, when each of us had to present a 15 minute radio show LIVE in front of the class, and this girl, Suzy R_ played two or three Pink Floyd songs, which she had borrowed from her older sister's record collection...Long story short, my crush on Suzy faded fast, but my love for Pink Floyd, and the Animals album in particular, has endured...I have way too many memories of this album to recount here, but after 30 years I still listen to it with regularity, and it still mesmerizes...


09: Frank Zappa: Zappa In New York: "The Torture Never Stops" [mp3] I couldn't be deserted on that island without some Zappa, but I had a fuck of a time trying to decide which ONE Zappa album outta 78 official releases (as of 30 seconds ago) I was gonna bring with me...Sheik Yerbouti was the first Zappa album I ever bought, and I have a great fondness for that double LP, but in the end, I had to go with this one...It's LIVE, and that seemed important...It's got sophisticated narration by Don Pardo, and that's dynamite...It's got several filthy songs for my filthy mind, and it's got other songs for the perpetually young sophisticate in me...Plus+++Plenty of Frank shutting up and playing his guitar...

08: Sonny Sharrock: Ask The Ages: "Once Upon A Time" [mp3] Some of the most furious guitar shredding I've ever heard in my life is on this album, courtesy of Mr. Sharrock, and it's a Jazz album, not a rock album! Ask The Ages also has the single most beautiful guitar playing I've ever heard on the song "Who Does She Hope To Be?" which you can hear HERE...I chose this particular song because it features a lengthy drum solo introduction by the legendary Elvin Jones, and sometimes, ya just gotta give the drummer some...RIP, Sonny...RIP, Elvin...

07: Talking Heads: The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads: "Memories (Can't Wait)" [mp3] This album is also about a girl, at a party, up against an armoire, while the Talking Heads pumped and pulsed from the floor below...I love the Talking Heads, and this double live album not only documents some amazing performances by a stellar band, but works as the definitive greatest hits collection from those first four classic Talking Heads albums...

06: Elvis Costello & The Attractions: This Year's Model: "(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea" [mp3] I was twelve years old, and Creem and Rolling Stone magazines were telling me that I just had to listen to Elvis Costello, cuz he was the newest thing, and the realest deal, and so I listened, and I've been listening ever since...This Year's Model is his most perfect album to my ears, and anyways contains the most amount of EC songs I absolutely love...This song is one of 'em, and it's the last song on this list with parentheses in the title...

05: The Clash: London Calling: "Lost In The Supermarket" [mp3] I came to this album through the song "Train In Vain", which remains an all-time fave, which is exactly why I'm streaming "Lost In The Supermarket" here...LOL...What needs be said about London Calling? A perfect album?

04: The Kinks: Are The Village Green Preservation Society: "Animal Farm" [mp3] I came to The Kinks relatively late...Sometime in the mid-90's, I'd say, and I regret I didn't explore and embrace them sooner...I bought the Lola Vs. Powerman album first, cuz it had their biggest hit, and I found myself listening to the entire album from start to finish with some regularity...Same for the Arthur album, which came next...But it's the Village Green album that I have the most fondness for nowadays, and the one that makes me happiest when I want to listen to a Kinks album, and believe me, I have them all...

03: The Vapors: New Clear Days: "Spring Collection" [mp3] Again, it was a song, "Turning Japanese", that convinced me to buy the entire album, and it was one of the greatest decisions of my life...I've probably played New Clear Days more than any other recording in my entire life...I still listen to it at least once or twice a month...Everyone knows "Turning Japanese" but not nearly enough people know this entire album, and they really should...Their second and last album, Magnets, is pretty damn good, too...

02: R.E.M.: Life's Rich Pageant: "Begin The Begin" [mp3] I always say that R.E.M. are my "sentimental" favorite band of all time, and what I mean is that they may no longer be my absolute favorite band (That would probably be The Kinks these days), but once upon a time, and for several years, they meant more to me than any other band or musician has ever meant to me...I ate and slept and smoked and fucked and drove and wrote and showered to this band, and I believed that if I could unravel the mysteries of the band - Stipe's lyrics, Mill's bass, Buck's chords - I would discover something important. What that was, I had no idea...I'm still wondering, still searching...

01: Minutemen: Double Nickels On The Dime: "Two Beads At The End" [mp3] My favorite album of all time, another double LP, and didn't I get a super bang for my buck with this list of DESERT ISLAND DISCS???? This one's got 40, count 'em, 40 songs, PLUS+++Four car jams of exhaust...Breathe, babycakes...This is three dudes jamming econo, ranting about war and politics and partying, and it's sharp spiked songs at the brilliant intersection of Punk and Jazz, and I idolized D. Boon (RIP) cuz he ripped his Telecaster much faster than I could ever hope to...Me, with a slower hand than Clapton..."Do you want New Wave, or do you want the truth?"...This album is the definition of EPIC.

Hotcha! Hank

Seize The Sideways Rainbow Maneuver

This is the Sonny Sharrock Band, doing the song "Fourteen" from the 1987 album, Seize The Rainbow. That's our man Sonny on the left - the big black dude in the white shirt, playing the black Les Paul.

Hotcha! Hank

Something 4 The Weekend # 59

Here's what you need to know about this week's S4TW:

Sonny Sharrock is my fifth favorite guitar player.

Ask The Ages is one of my ten (#8) desert island discs.

"Who Does She Hope To Be?" contains my favorite guitar solo/playing of all time.

Sonny Sharrock: Ask The Ages: "Who Does She Hope To Be?" [mp3]

This song is pure, unadulterated loveliness from beginning to end. Melancholy, hope, wistfulness, longing...Expressed by a saxophone that sounds like an electric guitar, and an electric guitar that sounds like a saxophone...

Sonny Sharrock..."A horn player with a really fucked up axe," as the man himself liked to say.

Hotcha! Hank

LAST EXIT

This noisy quartet is Last Exit, one of the most intense bands I've ever heard, and they've been a great musical tool for me over the years - to clean my sinuses and generally "get my shit correct". I'm posting this because Sonny Sharrock is the guitar player in Last Exit, and Sharrock is one of my biggest and deepest influences as a musician and guitarist. I was young enough, and foolish enough, once upon a time (around 1988), to believe I could fake my way into a "career" as a Free Jazz guitarist, just like my hero, Sonny. I was soooo wrong, of course, which basically makes me respect Sharrock even more. So, anyways, as far as I can tell, this is the only video currently streaming at YouTube that includes Sharrock, and of course I had to link it here. This music certainly isn't for everybody, but it takes more ability than one might realize to play this kind of skronk.

Sonny Sharrock died in 1994 of a heart attack brought on by his daily consumption of In'n'Out Burgers, but not before recording his 1991 solo album, Ask The Ages, which is one of my Desert Island Discs. Such an album of beauty and power, I strongly urge everyone to check it out...

The last thing I'll say about Sonny Sharrock that might interest non-fans, is that he did the theme song and show music for Space Ghost Coast To Coast.

Sonny Sharrock - Wiki

Last Exit - Wiki

Ask The Ages - Amazon

Hotcha!
Hank