Tag Archives: town

#1441: Talking Heads – Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town

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Looks like I gave the whole spiel as to what other songs from Talking Heads: 77 would have their own posts here when I last wrote about another song from that album a few years back. Normally I reserve that whole bit for when I’m writing about the last representative from a specific LP. But I guess I couldn’t hold it in. What I’ve found out is that I listened to …77 in full for the first time in March 2014. I thought it was much later in the year. I have a memory that fueled that feeling, I’ll maybe note it in the final paragraph. But let’s see, March 2014. I was hosting a show on my uni’s radio station. I was stuffing my iTunes library with as much music as I could. I had ‘Tentative Decisions’ by itself in there. I’d heard it on an internet radio service in 2012 or so. I’m guessing I must have just thought, “May as well get the rest of the album in too.” It was a well-respected piece of work, according to Wikipedia. I had nothing to lose.

‘Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town’ is the first song on Talking Heads: 77. The one introducing the band to the masses, with …77 being their debut album and all. It begins with a crashing, ascending four-chord progression before falling straight into that shoulder-shimmying groove. The guitar line skips along, in unison with the bass guitar, and then David Byrne enters on the vocals for all to hear with that shrill but perky delivery of his. Steel drums enter the frame along the way, all a very upbeat affair. Guess it’s safe to say, ‘Uh-Oh…’ is a song about love. In the tune, David Byrne sings from the perspective of a self-proclaimed “know-it-all” who’s got his partner. They get along very well. But the song’s not so much about the couple. It’s more about the notion that being in love can make you do stupid things, make the world go topsy-turvy. Byrne sings about calling in sick to his workplace to be with the one [he] loves, even though he knows he’ll get in trouble for it. He’s misplaced his common sense. He goes out of his mind when his loved one’s around. Stockbrokers are making bad investments, jet pilots are losing control of their vehicles. And why? Because love has come to town. And the song ends as it begins, with that four-chord progression with Byrne wailing “Uh-oh” over the top of it. A strong album opener. A strong discography opener.

Why I thought I heard Talking Heads: 77 later in 2014 is because I once went to Manchester for a weekend or something in November that year, an event was going on. Warehouse Project, people out there will know. I returned to my uni house and found that I could no longer reach those high notes as David Byrne does at the end of ‘Uh-Oh…’ when I tried to sing the song like I had before that weekend happened. I honestly thought that was it, my voice was gone, my angelic tones were no more. Cut to a few weeks later, voice was fine. A lot of that weekend was spent talking loudly, obviously some cords were strained and they got better over time. But I got worried there. So the point was, I thought I had listened to …77 initially around November time of 2014. It was months earlier. But maybe it was during November time that I revisited it and officially got into ‘Uh-Oh’… I’m rambling on a bit, just some thought processes going on here. Whatever may be the case, I enjoy this song and its parent album a lot. I prefer it to More Buildings and Food. I would probably be more inclined to go through …77 on a whim than Remain in Light too. In my view, just the run from ‘The Book I Read’ to ‘Pulled Up’ might be one of my favourites on any album ever. And that does includes ‘First Week/Last Week…Carefree’ because that song is a jam.

#1404: Kevin Ayers – Town Feeling

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“Imagine if Nick Drake came out of his bout of depression, became a much happier person, started getting into circus music for whatever reason, and put those influences into his music. That’s kinda what I imagine. This is a great album. The first song appeared in my ‘Discover Weekly’ playlist on Spotify. I liked it. Checked the rest out. I wasn’t disappointed. Favourite track: The Lady Rachel” That’s what a 21-year-old me replied on a “What have you been listening to?” post on the Indieheads subreddit, on 6th May 2016, referring to Kevin Ayers’ 1969 album, Joy of a Toy, his debut solo after leaving Canterbury scene band Soft Machine the year before. It’s a pretty reductive way to write about Nick Drake and that album, to be honest. I guess I was trying to be funny. But I was also really enjoying the album at the time, and I think, in excitement, those were the instant thoughts that came to me. And the album really is a whole lot of fun. Its cover provides just a little glimpse of it.

After Joy of a Toy begins with its almost-title track, a literal invitation to a circus with jaunty music and “la-la-la / ha-ha-ha” vocalizations, ‘Town Feeling’ brings the cheerful tone down a little, bringing things to a more human, relatable sentiment. Ayers is walking around his local area, and ‘Town Feeling’ is the observational piece detailing the things he notices while he’s on his leisurely travels. Nothing too deep to read into when it comes to the words. The town is more quieter than usual. Whatever people are up to in their homes, it’s none of Ayers’s business. He doesn’t wish to know and he doesn’t think anyone should care. He sees a girl on a swing, who he dedicates a song to just a couple numbers later on the album. He grits his teeth as he listens to a person, one who I assume he doesn’t care too much for, talking about their problems when otherwise wouldn’t speak to Ayers all that much. And during the instrumental break, he drily sings the word ‘banana’ for no real reason, I think to just throw things out of kilter for a split second. It’s all very simply stated, easily sung. Almost five minutes, but it goes by quickly. A quaint song to settle you in to the album’s proceedings.

A lot of things I like about this tune. It’s the first one on the album where you really hear Ayers singing, and his deep baritone voice may throw you for a loop if you’re not expecting it. You can hear it on the intro track, but it’s rather buried in the mix, underneath the party atmosphere it’s got going. But on ‘Town Feeling’, his smooth, relaxed delivery effortlessly guides you through as he details his observations. Another aspect: The song doesn’t really have a chorus. If it does, I’d say it’s in the form of those harmonising guitars that come in after each verse. Those being the elements that provide the unifying melodic hook of the composition. And just in general, the instrumentation very different from the usual rock-band ensemble of the late ’60s, swapping out electric guitars for a piano, a cello, an oboe, acoustic guitars. It’s all a bit unusual, and that’s all throughout the album. Very intriguing, overall. So I hope you go on to listen to Joy of a Toy yourself. I’d like to shout out ‘The Clarietta Rag’ on there, because two other songs that would have been posts in another universe but don’t here have already been linked and I didn’t want that track to be left behind.

#915: Animal Collective – New Town Burnout

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‘New Town Burnout’ is one of two tracks that Noah Lennox, known as Panda Bear by many a person, brought to the table when he and his fellow bandmates in Animal Collective set out to make Centipede Hz. The album turns ten in September this year, time flies, huh. The song was one that was a leftover from Lennox’s solo Tomboy project that had been released the year before. It’s fair to say that you can tell this was the case just by listening to them both. They share the same sonic similarities, a huge emphasis on its percussive elements and the low-end with enveloping reverb-drenched chord progressions on top. The main difference here though is that the track’s filled with all these snippets of samples and noises, in keeping with Centipede‘s alien band radio concept.

I didn’t get to Centipede Hz until about 2014. That was the year I was on my Animal Collective trip, trying to find as much of their music as I could. ‘New Town Burnout’ stuck out as a highlight to me, I think on that second or third listen, and with all the listens since then I continue to find little moments, melodies and other oddities in the mix that are never so apparent on the first try. Like how when Panda starts singing his verse, there’s this other vocal that mirrors his, but is continually ascending and descending. It’s hard to describe. It’s hard to describe a lot of things on here actually. There are guitars, but they don’t sound like them. There are these ‘hoo-hoo-hoo’ vocals which might not even be vocals. The only thing that remains consistent is the booming rhythm. Very hypnotizing when you focus on it, and it’s only interrupted by those erratic synths that then transition into the next track.

Panda Bear’s a family man. He likes the simple things in life. He’s written plenty of songs that echoes those sentiments. And ‘New Town Burnout’ is no different in that it’s about being bored with touring, and wanting to go home and sit down in peace for a bit. When he makes it back to his place, he’ll take off his shoes and coat, he’ll put his belongings someplace (doesn’t really matter where, he’ll know where they are) and sleep without having to worry about the things that usually arise when on the road. Can’t say I’m in the position where I can relate, but he sings it very well and sounds very earnest which is want you always want from a song. When he goes for those higher notes for the “No more at the wrong…” lyrics, it’s always a thumbs up. And as the track nears its end, he lulls the listener to slumber with those elongated repetitions of “Light” before stressing that “t” sound on the beat. Words don’t do the music much justice, but it’s good, good stuff.

#712: Eels – Last Stop: This Town

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Mark Oliver Everett, known as ‘E’ by the majority of people, lost both his mother and sister in tragic circumstances leaving him as the sole living member of his family. Their passing were separated by only a short amount of time, and the sudden drastic change in E’s life became the subject of Eels’ second album Electro-Shock Blues.

‘Last Stop: This Town’ is one of the many songs from the album that are about his sister. In it, Everett makes up the wishful situation where his sister’s spirit appears to him and they fly over the city together for one last time before she leaves him for the final time. I think that’s also what is depicted on the album’s front cover. It’s a saddening matter at hand but still optimistic and beautiful in a way. The track though is up there as one of the record’s most upbeat songs. Co-written by Michael Simpson, known for being one half of the producing Dust Brothers duo, ‘Last Stop’ incorporates harpsichords, keyboarded choir backing vocals, and fat ‘GET DOWN’ DJ scratches that appear during the choruses. It’s definitely designed to be an alternative hit of some kind, with plenty of catchy hooks and great melodies to boot.

Though heartbreaking in its lyrics, the music remains very cheerful in its delivery. I can only suggest its the audio equivalent of making the best out of a bad situation. If that makes any sense.

My iPod #485: Small Faces – HappyDaysToyTown

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Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake would be the last album the English rock band Small Faces released during their original stint from 1965-1969. It utilises different styles from bass-heavy psychedelia to full-on hard rock, but it is the second half of the album that separates it from many, many other albums out there. On top of providing the listener with six unrelated, memorable songs the following six are based on a fairy-tale on a boy named Happiness Stan, who goes on a journey to find out where the other half of the moon has gone after seeing only the other half of it during the night. You think I’m making this up? It has to be heard to be believed.

“HappyDaysToyTown” concludes the story, as well as the whole album, with a good ol’ Cockney knees-up about the meaning of life. Sung by both lead singer Steve Marriott and bassist Ronnie Lane, the track teaches us that “life is just a bowl of all-bran” and to generally enjoy every moment you have in this world as best you can. Have a sing, a dance, and give a happy-days-toy-town-newspaper smile. What does that mean? It means a lot actually, despite the nonsensical phrasing.

And with that ended one of the most unusual albums to come from the 60s, as well as one of the most influential mod and psychedelic acts of the time too. They would (kinda) reform in the 70s, but no one talks about that so much. Good song.