Phish, live at the UNH Fieldhouse May 8, 1993

Phish has never been an easy band to love, it takes hard work and an extremely specific social context for the music to take hold – but once it does, once it becomes the official soundtrack to youthful good times, it never fully leaves the lives of its long-time listeners.

The concept is pretty straight forward: stoned nerds meet up in the late ’80s in the Burlington, VT area. Channeling the sounds of the Grateful Dead and Frank Zappa, they become the ultimate bar band on acid, then they cross over to playing colleges. Over the next ten or so years they produce some of the most popular and enduring music of the ’90s (yet never really appear on MTV or FM radio) with a serious bent towards goofiness and a penchant for mind-bendingly intricate musicianship. Constantly touring, they close the decade out as one of the world’s highest grossing live acts.

What’s so appealing about this music is that it’s always in good spirits – it’s always ready to affect your mood in a positive way – and the song I’ve selected here is a prime example of the band at their finest… or, more accurately, phinest.

If you spent any time at all around a high school parking lot or university hacky sack green in the early to mid 1990s, you’re probably familiar with the refrain ‘Bag it, tag it, sell it the butcher in the store’. If not, I’m sorry because you totally missed out.

Reba is comprised of three distinct movements (and a parenthetical fourth: the final, whistled refrain), the first, which includes the lyrical portion of the song, tells the children’s booky tale of an over-eager cartoony home-chemist (kind of betraying Trey’s roots as the son of a woman who wrote songs for Sesame Street); the second portion sounds like what you might expect if an early 1960s eastern European master of animated film commissioned an avant garde jazz quartet to score an unfinished film he created based on the first part of the song (the narrative of Reba mixing all these crazy ingredients in her bath tub); finally, at around the 6 and a half minute mark, the song opens up and… well, you really ought to hear for yourself.

Click here for the rest of Reba

See more: Songs 1990s Concerts Guest Writer: Jim Rock

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Posted on December 6, 2009

by Nino Rota (1960)

Nino Rota made beautiful music for films, and never more beautiful and fanciful than when working on a film by Federico Fellini, and never more whimsical and wonderful than his theme to the classic La Dolce Vita.

It’s a piece of music that can whisk you away to glamorous and magical worlds.

Fellini said of Rota, “He was someone who had a rare quality belonging to the world of intuition. Just like children, simple men, sensitive people, innocent people, he would suddenly say dazzling things. As soon as he arrived, stress disappeared, everything turned into a festive atmosphere; the movie entered a joyful, serene, fantastic period, a new life.”
Click here for the rest of La Dolce Vita Theme

See more: Songs 1960s Instrumental Soundtracks

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Posted on November 22, 2009

Here's what I wrote back on April 6th:

I can not, for the life of me, figure out why Sugarman, the amazing 1970 song by little-known Rodriguez, never became a smash hit here in the USA. It's like a long-lost dreamily upbeat Donovan track, minus the chilling goofiness of Mellow Yellow but imbued with the naughtiness of Codeine's derided subject matter; it seems, to me, to be an ode to the pleasures of drug-taking.

Now considered a “cult” classic rock song, Sugarman is a huge hit in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. Propelled by its recent appearance as a sample in a song by someone called “Nas”, maybe this spectacularly catchy song will finally catch on and reach a wide American audience, inspiring them to swing their shoulders like hippies and let the sound carry them away.

Originally a Motown singer, Rodriguez came Icarianly close to stardom but lost it all with a bunk record company then went on to shed his musical roots, living quietly and eventually making a run for local office in Detroit.

While I'm sure he's a well rounded man who's enjoyed his life and recent re-discovery, I can't help but feel sad about all the music he could have made if he'd stuck with it through the years. Though, just ask the Rolling Stones what the last good song they recorded was (answer: none)… Maybe we should just count our blessings that we're left with this singular and underplayed gem.

RUNNERS UP:
What You Won't Do For Love
Somebody Loves You
Deamon Lover
Naughty Girl
Yes We Can Can
Once Bitten Twice Shy

See more: Songs 1970s Best of Psychedelic

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Posted on November 2, 2009

My sister saw Michael Damian in concert when we were kids; all I remember was my own envy and my dad saying that he opened with Rock On and closed with Rock On?twice.

Speaking of Damian, you should try to track down the volume of TV Carnage that features an astoundingly in-depth Current Affair piece on the time he got attacked by an angry fan during a mall parking lot performance.

The song is a remake of a David Essex hit, but only Damian's version had the honor of gracing the Corey and Corey film, Dream A Little Dream.

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Posted on October 19, 2009

We are truly the children of the '90s and when a radio hit from that by-gone era comes wafting into our midst and we can't?help but perk up and recall some sunny afternoon in junior high.

Tell Me by Groove Theory is the perfect transporter to a simpler time. Hope it pops up during a round of drinks for you like it did for us. The duo of Amel Larrieux and Bryce Wilson was, sadly, short lived.

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Posted on October 5, 2009