“And I wanna tell ya, if there is anybody here who doesn’t believe that it is fuckin great to be alive, I wish they would go now, because this show will bring them down so much.”
Guys my first stunt for ’15 is an A-to-Z cover series, one per day, starting today. Z is, of course, for ZAPPA (with Captain Beefheart & the Mothers).
STRAIGHT CASH, HOMIE.
No color-saturation trickery or anything, guys – look how pretty this came out! I fiiiiinally got Toussaint’s Life, Love and Faith, which made me think about other epic/stark/lovely black or white or black & white album covers, which sucked me down a rabbit hole all Sunday afternoon, which come to think of it is always where you can catch me on Sunday afternoon, every Sunday afternoon, with sporadic breaks only to stretch and refuel and check Deadspin. (Special appearances by my favorite red dress, my mug of hot chocolate, & because I’m fucking sick to DEATH of the Cowboys, Days of Our Harbaugh, and As the Manziel Turns, the Aldridge-less Blazers being unkind to the Knicks on my TV.)
This album is hot garbage so here lemme rank the most non-horrible Xmas songs for you:
12. The Ramones, “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight)”
11. Yellow Man, “Santa Claus Never Comes To The Ghetto”
10. either Barrington Levy, “One Christmas Day” or Jacob Miller, “All I Want For Ismas” (undecided at press time)
9. Charles Brown, “Please Come Home for Christmas”
8. Marvin Gaye, “I Want to Come Home for Christmas” (saccharine as fuck but still like open-heart surgery because of Marvin’s voice & phrasing)
7. “Merry Christmas Baby” – the Bawse & the E Street Band, mostly because of the keys/drums/horns of the intro (Bittan/Weinberg/Clemons).
6. Bill Withers, “The Gift of Giving.”
5. Prince, “Another Lonely Christmas”
4. The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl, “Fairytale of New York”
3. Donny Edward Hathaway, “This Christmas”
2. Darlene Love, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”
1. Vince Guaraldi, “Linus and Lucy,” obviously
[Close, but nope: Run-DMC, “Christmas in Hollis” due to sheer annoying oversaturation (oddly, however, this does not impact the seeding of “Linus and Lucy”), Joni Mitchell’s “River” which is lovely but loses points for encouraging pouty Caucasian female wallowing, James Brown’s “Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto” (boring), and “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” by John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band, due to John Lennon’s hypocrital ass singing us a big ol' guilt-trip let’s-all-do-better song while pretending he's not a man who consistently physically assaulted the women in his life. HAVE A SEAT, LENNON.]
I fucking love Fishbone. Who doesn’t?!??
(I will fight anyone who doesn’t)
In this album’s liner notes, the band thanks George Clinton, Brian Eno, John Cusack, and God – in that order. Seems about right to me.
Never heard of this dude but I’m told he reps his borough with fierce pride (Queens!). Plus his name is from that Calvin Lockhart movie with the Mayfield soundtrack. I like him.
“Museum directors with their high shaking heads/They kick white shadows until they play dead.” Everybody knows “Let’s Go,” but really, how interesting is it to like the nightlife, baby? It’s not. “The Dangerous Type” is the real and true banger on this album. Shout to Greg Hawkes for the delicious synthy goodness and Roy Thomas Baker for being a general ’70s studio god (QUEEN).
Le onnn me
when you’re not strong.
Peace to all the concern trolls who keep turning up on Instagram expressing anxiety about my wardrobe choices. Here’s a nice jeans-and-turtleneck combo to please you, though I should warn that you may still be able to detect I have hips and breasts through the fabric : (
I’m told that this topless gentleman was an important figure in music; more importantly, I know for a fact that he put babies in women on 12 separate occasions, making him the music game Antonio Cromartie. I try not to post album covers that remind me of my home country’s gross insatiable hunger for firearms, but I’ll overlook it in favor of laziness. (I needed an album cover this week and I had the jeans and plastic gun required.)