#332 – Richard and Linda Thompson – Shoot Out the Lights

Next we have the sixth and final release from Richard and Linda Thompson.  Released in 1982 the album has been cited as Richard Thompson’s greatest work.  Linda Thompson was pregnant during the recording of this album, so the band did not release the album or go on tour right away.  By the time the album came out, the Thompson’s marriage was through.

Sara

Here we go with these jokers again. I knew it was only a matter of time.  I can’t talk about this anymore.

 

Steve

This was marginally better than the first Thompson’s album we had to endure.  I cannot tell if that’s because the music was better, or because I knew what I was in for this time.  Mental preparation probably does make a hell of a difference.

The only song on this album worth talking about is “Man In Need.”  I mean the music is annoying.  The lyrics are not great bordering on downright bad.  However, I think given the pregnancy the Thompson’s were going through, and the divorce that soon followed, this may be the most real track they ever produced.  This is the song of a man looking to escape his life, and leave his family behind.  I do not know the details of the Thompson’s break-up, and I don’t care to look into it; but when I hear this song, I am not surprised.

I packed my rags, went down the hill
Left my dependents a-lying still
Just as the dawn was rising up
I was making good speed
I left a letter lying on the bed
From a man in need, it read

You know it’s so hard,
It’s so hard to find
Well, well, well.
Who’s going to cure the heart of a man in need?

All of my friends don’t comprehend me
Their kind of style it just offends me
I want to take ’em, I want to shake ’em
‘Till they pay me some heed
Oh, you’ve got to ride in one direction
Until you find the right connection

You know it’s so hard,
So, so, so, so
Well, well.
Who’s going to cure the heart of a man in need?

Who’s going to give you real happiness?
Who’s going to give you contentedness?
Who’s going to lead you? Who’s going to feed you?
And cut you free?
Well I’ve sailed every ship in the sea
But I traveled this world in misery

You know it’s so hard,
So hard, so hard
Well, well.
Who’s going to cure the heart of a man in need?

Well who’s going to shoe your feet?
Ah who’s going to pay your rent?
And who’s going to stand by you?
Well, well, well, well
Who’s going to cure the heart of a man in need?
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Of a man in need

Adios Thompson’s, I hope you found more happiness in your lives than you gave us in your music.

#333 – X – Wild Gift

The first of two albums from punk rock group X is their second album.  Released in 1981 it was critically well received and was #2 for the year in our old friend the Village Voice Pazz and Jop Critics Poll.  One reviewer, Robert Christgau, was impressed to find this album as both a love album and a punk album; a rare combination indeed.

Sara

This is my first time listening to this LA punk group and I’m loving it. Female lead vocalist Exene Cervenka has an interesting story. She met ‘X’ founder John Doe shortly after the group formed and Doe asked her to join, perhaps not knowing at the time that just a couple years later he’d be asking for her hand in marriage. The pair were married until 1985, and in 1986 Cervenka married actor Viggo Mortensen, with whom she shares a son.  The pair divorced in 1997 after a lengthy separation.

Here’s where it gets very interesting.  In the years since, Cervenka has become a self-described conspiracy theorist.  She found herself embroiled in controversy when she publicly asserted through her Twitter and YouTube accounts that the Santa Barbara shooting was carried out by the United States government in an effort to promote its gun-control agenda. Needless to say, people were pretty pissed.

 

My favorite song is probably ‘I’m Coming Over.’ Clocking in at just over one minute long, it’s basically just about a booty call. 

 

 I’m coming over

I’m coming over

 I’m coming over

 so move over

 make the bed up

 pull the covers down

 tear the sheets off

 fluff up the pillow

and remove them

I’m coming over

 I’m coming over

 I’m coming over

 so move over light

 months on a lonely mattress

light months on a lonely mattress

  I’m coming over

 I’m coming over

I’m coming over

 so move over

I’m madonna on a mattress

 I’m madonna on a mattress

 and I’m coming over

 

The next song, ‘It’s Who You Know,’ is the most impressive. The guitar riffs and drums are fast-moving and it would be a valid candidate if you wanted to pick one song that exemplifies California punk.

 

Baby you look like somebody ooh to know
Like a rose comin’ out of a photo
All your lipstick shows
I don’t want to make you cry

I don’t want to even try
I just want to say I met (meet) you
It’s who you know
Oh you can talk to me

Make my life complete
When I think of the ways I can use you
Get me off the streets
Then we spend the night in bed

And I can’t loose my head
Even in lovin’ it’s who you know

 

Founder John Doe has a much less controversial and arguably more interesting story. In addition to still performing with ‘X,’ Doe has racked up quite the acting resume with appearances in dozens of tv shows and movies including  Road House, Boogie Nights, Law& Order, Party of Five, ER, and Brokedown Palace. His music is not only punk. He’s also performed and created rock, country, and folk music to consdiderable success.

 

Fun fact: in the movie The Bodyguard, it is John Doe’s version of ‘I Will Always Love You’ that plays on the jukebox in the dance scene between Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston.

  

I’m loving these punk acts that are peppered throughout the list. They’re always pleasant surprises and have made me realize that I need to be listening to a whole lot more punk music.

Steve

I had never heard of X, and in all honesty I was already frustrated from trying to find music by a band with a one letter title.  Seriously, it’s a pain in the ass.  Way toomuch porn shows up searching for “x.”

My frustration was quickly driven away by this music.  This is some damn good punk, and I cannot believe I never heard of the band.  This album starts really strong with Exen Cervenka’s “The Once Over Twice.”  According to Exene it is a song about how men were intimidated by her, and did not like her so much.  I guess Viggo Mortenson wasn’t scared to make a move.

I just heard the sad song by another band
Sung by another man
He gave me the once over twice
I said, “When?”
He said, “Okay, so long”
He hung me with the endless rope

I could throw my lipstick and bracelets like gravel
And move to Alabama
I got some more scotch instead
Then I died a thousand times
He hung me with the endless rope

Then I died a thousand times, maybe you don’t
But I do, I got a hole in my heart
Size of my heart
Size of my heart
He hung me with the endless rope

I’ll see you and I’ll raise you off the floor
I’ll floor you and we’ll dance without a band
I just heard the sad song, hang another man
He hung me with the endless rope

“In This House That I Call Home” is another great track.  I picture the band living in a never ending party house, and not being able to find time for each other.  That sounds like a pretty rough limbo, doomed to wander in a crowd of your friends while never being able to meet up with the person you want the most.  In my imagination the non-stop party has some serious late 70’s fashion craziness happening.

A hundred lives are shoved inside
Guests arrive to dump their mess
Obedient host and visiting wife
Come outta the bedroom
Straightening clothes

In this house that I call home
In this house that I call home
Nobody knows the party rules
I gotta get in but there’s no room
In this house that I call home
In this house that I call home

Beautiful walls are closing in
Looking at you, you’re having a nightmare
Stumble over tombstone shoes
I reach to surround you
But it’s too soon

In this house that I call home
In this house that I call home
Nobody knows the party rules
I gotta get in but there’s no room
In this house that I call home
In this house that I call home

I finally look in your sweet eyes
And somebody comes with a bottle of beer
After he leaves, I turn for a kiss
And see the lady next door
She’s naked in the street

“Adult Books” is one of the first songs that Exene and John Doe wrote together.  The song refers to Jacqueline Susann, an author who wrote books themed on substance abuse, and existential crises.  To me the song is about the futility of the single lover out on the prowl.  I could be completely wrong, but either way, I enjoyed the track.

Many many guys and girls
All real beauties
Everybody making a stab
They hurt themselves

Singles rule the world
Feeding on fresh blood
One track eye
Below the belt

All in a line
All in a line
They’re all in a line
Like adult books
I don’t understand
Jackie Susann meant it that way
Adult books
I don’t understand
Jackie Susann meant it that way

Clifford shackles Jane
Throws her on the floor
She says, “No… no… YES”
And he cuts the chains

Do plenty people go for Tomata?
Yes, but he just goes for that special girl
Who says, “NO”

Just when I thought this list couldn’t piss me off any more, Rolling Stone gives me a gift like this, and totally redeems itself.  I now have X’s second album on the list to look forward to.  I can’t wait.