I'm usually such a positive person, breezing my way through life like . . . like . . . like a Beach Boys song. (A good Beach Boys song, not garbage like "Kokomo.")
And yet there is someone out there who gets my goat so much that it makes me a compulsively negative person. Makes me an Internet troll, of all things. It's horrible. And it happens any time he is mentioned, gets a headline, or . . . lookee here, releases a new album!
Mike Love, y'all. Future resident of actual Hell. Current purveyor of musical Hell.
12 Sides of Summer is his newest auditory upchucking, and it's a dandy. Stephen Thomas Erlewine, the premier reviewer at AllMusic, gives it more credit than I would have (natch) but notes the "incredibly chintzy production that sounds like it was slapped together at home on a tablet computer." Meanwhile, in the Evening Standard, Harriet Wolstenholme writes:
California Beach, a rare original song, opens with a quintessential Love lyric: “Where surfers are surfing and dancers are dancing/ You’re sure to find a honey that you’ll love romancing”. Ick.We will get back to that rare original song in a minute, but let's get to Les Coole's review of the record:
Just dreck. I mean . . . dreck.There you have it. Bad covers of what Erlewine calls "shopworn summer standards" with putrid production and Mike Love's voice. A voice, which does have a place in musical history, and is best highlighted here:
(I got that clip from a website called Crappy Music Monday in a post in which the first two sentences are "Mike Love is a douche-nozzle. Pretty much everyone knows this." Join the movement, people.)
Mike Love is 78, and it's understandable that a voice at that age will diminish. Could be a good thing, but if the best descriptor for your vocals on an album is "wan," maybe it's time to hang up the baseball cap and just get back to supporting your pal Donald Trump's mission to Make America Like Kokomo For the First Time.
The songs... okay, so I created a playlist below featuring the originals, solid covers of those songs, and then Mike Love's 12 Sides of Summer renditions. Have a listen and decide what you think. (I know, you don't give a damn. Why do I get so twisted up?)
Example: You know The Rivieras' "California Sun," a beach all-timer with that Vox Continental organ and surf guitar that etches itself in the brain permanently. You may well know the Ramones' cover, with Johnny's pounding guitar and Joey's inimitable voice. And then you get this new version, a relatively inoffensive bongo-and-handclap stab with a robust backup chorus that juxtaposably dwarfs Dr. Love's frail warbling. Harmless but pointless. Steve Spurrier: "Not very good."
It's the same lot of tripe throughout, with a couple of things worth mentioning:
- He can't even cover the Beach Boys very well.
- If you can redo "Girl From Ipanema" with a sonic quality that says "What's two steps beyond elevator music?", well, you've accomplished something.
- A little media noise has been made about "Rockaway Beach," his take on the aforementioned Ramones, and how it's a crazy cross-culture mish-mash. It's not. It's not avant-garde, and it actually makes sense. The Ramones were punk rock but drew mightily from 60's sun and surf classics like the Beach Boys. Not a bad marriage. Well chosen, sir. But again, Mike Love's always nasally grating, now eunuchally impotent voice* coupled with mom's basement production utterly undercuts the result.
* From Mike Love's own website: "Love’s voice is a style of its own. He combines his steady bass/baritone with a whimsical intonation— indicative of the ultra-cool, self-confidence and innocence of the early 1960s."
So he has his ridiculous description, I have mine.
So he has his ridiculous description, I have mine.
- And finally, there's the original single that Rolling Stone calls "breezy." It's called "California Beach," and if you astutely noted that Mike Love has covered "California Sun" and "Rockaway Beach" on the same album that he produces a "new," "original" song called "California Beach," good for you. That's not where the appropriating ends. To enable a true-side-by-side comparison, I've appended the playlist with some needless duplication. Obnoxious, eh? Check it out. "California Beach" is "Rockaway Beach." (No, Finkle/Einhorn lovers, "Rockaway Beach is not "California Beach.") All that's missing is a Cal Cal, California Beach chorus. There's a reason the two tracks could not be placed further apart on this album, but it's still pretty brazen. This is "Riot in Cell Block 9" / "Student Demonstration Time" all over again. Seriously. What a douche.
Oh yeah... I also love this: http://cokemachineglow.com/features/pictures-of-mike-love-looking-like-a-douche/http://cokemachineglow.com/features/pictures-of-mike-love-looking-like-a-douche/
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46 comments:
Afternoon. I believe a couple of you have visited Louisville in the past year or so - TJ and Mark perhaps? Heading there w/my posse (non-family posse, not family posse) in a couple of months and am looking for a good dinner rec. I would be grateful for your help.
How do you really feel Whit.
wow. i found that album on google play. it's really bad! sounds like an old dude that just figured out he's got garageband on his mac. rockaway beach is particularly heinous, but "girl from ipanema" is really weird-- seems like it might devolve into a ween song at any moment but it just keeps going in it's own awful style. what is wrong with that guy?
you didn't include the greatest cover of "summertime blues"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC4S13jcki4
MAKA - Make America Kokomo Again
Pour one out for Rutger.
Chilling at hotel pool in Charleston after playing tourist all morning and eating at Rodney Scott’s for lunch. We settle into sun chairs at the little pool. Five minutes later, a bachelorette party rolls in. And the ladies all seem extremely fit. They immediately stripped down to bathing suits and hopped into the pool. Sometimes life is fairer than it needs to be.
I'll be in Charleston Sunday night with my daughters. Touring College of Charleston Monday, then off to Columbia for a USC tour Tuesday. Time flies.
TR, don't destroy Charleston before then, please.
The headlines will all highlight Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner, which is warranted, but his performance in The Hitcher still gives me chills. Wicked.
And I liked him as the rare good guy in Wanted: Dead or Alive. #3 Douche Gene Simmons was the bad guy in that one.
danimal, i was in louisville in may. had an awesome meal at brendon's catch 23 - really fresh seafood (since l'ville is a fedex hub, they get super-fresh stuff from the sea. who knew?). fair warning - not cheap, but since my company was paying, i didn't mind. butchertown grocery/lola also a winner. get a drink in the lobby bar at the brown hotel (home of the hot brown!) - great whiskey menu in an old-school charmer of a hotel.
How do our old posts end up on Wordpress? Aren't they a competitor of Blogger?
https://gheorghe77.wordpress.com/2009/09/30/music-month-ends-with-a-splash/
I blame the Deep State.
I would pay at least $6.90 to watch TR try and maintain his cool and creep on the bachelorette party without getting caught looking by Tiara.
In other news, this might be the best possible car for someone looking to get a classic that you can cheaply own and operate regularly. Very low miles but high enough that you can drive it without feeling guilty (unless you're OJ Simpson). It should sell for well under five figures (I think).
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1990-mazda-mx-5-miata-50/
Golden penis golden penis. Gooolden penis.
I LOL’ed
Thank you Robbie
Danimal--go to Bar Vetti in Louisville
I prefer Bar Refaeli.
I prefer a Cor Vetti.
What mileage does it get?
Will try them all. Thank you.
I've got a little red miata in the garage of my rental house, but I'm just letting a friend store it there while he uses his garage as a shop.
I discovered yesterday that someone aggregated my zillow listing for the house, where it's renting for $1900/month, and posted it to craigslist for rent for $800. Similar to the 2009 GTB post on wordpress, I guess.
the similarity is lost on me
the _________ is lost on Dave
Other entries?
Proof on Main is the best restaurant in Louisville, imo. Ridiculous food and an equally ridiculous bourbon menu. It’s also inside a hotel with a cool art gallery.
Might as well have a bourbon or two at The Brown Hotel as well. The bar is small but like Rob said, the bourbon menu is huge.
the speed with which the basketball tournament has become a vital part of the summer sports calendar is both amazing and a testament to how great an idea it is.
gheorghies!
Hi gheorghies!
News alert - Charleston is cool. Wife and I have been eating, drinking and walking our way thru this gem of a town. The town’s backstory is cool. We did have a sobering experience at a Slave Mart Museum downtown. We felt it was something we needed to do. It was located in the literal alley where slaves were sold in the 1850’s. The woman working there was an elderly African American woman who explained how the place worked. They had shackles, sale receipts, photos of whip-scarred slaves, etc. My wife was crying by the end. She has white guilt about slavery, even though she’s Irish and Peruvian and has no roots in this country before the 1920’s.
Slaves built this town and helped it prosper. Processing all of that is difficult. And makes you want to have a cocktail.
tr, you have to listen to this bit by roy wood jr.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySXsLagiZfo
slaves built this whole country and helped it prosper. it's especially evident in charleston, for sure, and processing it is difficult. more people that look like us need to do that processing.
http://gheorghe77.blogspot.com/2019/04/sentence-of-different-dave.html
Whit: Marcus King Band playing Norfolk on 7/30.
Thanks for the reminder to find that book Z. Rob is right. A whole lot of people need to process that history. Perhaps that would help improve our civil discourse and understanding. I'm not sure we're heading that direction.
Listen to TR, Whit. Get you some of that on a Tuesday night.
That book seems amazing, yet heavy. I finally finished Boomtown. I’m now halfway through Sam Quinones’ amazing Dreamland. Ties together so many heroin/OxyContin stories I knew a bit about.
dreamland is an exceptional piece of reporting. and depressing as hell.
so tr's kids are irish/peruvian/persian? that's some united nations shit right there. one of your kids needs to marry an african/australian/antarctican. the melting pot is alive and well in that household.
They’re 25% each of each of those three, and 12.5% Polish. Of course, they look like Aryan Hitler youth.
the real master race!
To echo Rob’s less weighty comment, The Basketball Tournament is fantastic. The fact that there’s real crowds now makes it even better. I’m a huge basketball dork so I’ll watch anything but it’s more than ably filled a late summer sports void.
Rob and I took in Blondie and Elvis Costello last night. Highly enjoyable.
I’d be all over Marcus King Tuesday were it not for my last summer class which will feature me delivering a presentation. Drat.
I did see him last summer in Raleigh opening for Tedeschi Trucks with the Drive-By Truckers. One of the best shows of my year.
boomtown is the best. when i was in costa rica, i had the pleasure of recommending to a bunch of middle-aged folks from oklahoma. they had never heard of it.
once you've read dreamland, then you need to read "dopesick." an update that puts faces to the crisis, covers the fight against purdue, and is local-- for many of you guys: the book is mainly set around the Shenandoah Valley in virginia.
https://sentenceofdave.blogspot.com/2019/06/theres-sick-and-then-theres-dopesick.html
Fresh off winning Most Improved Swimmer, zson swam in the All Team league-wise meet against what appeared to be small cetaceans, based in their speed in the water. He got smoked but spirits are still high.
While we’re taking about books, I highly recommend Sex, Money, Murder. I’m pretty much a nonfiction guy so I try to alternate between sports books and non sports books. SMM is my most recent non sports book and it’s really good.
Last day in Charleston. Went to Lewis Barbecue for lunch. Mark May be the only one to care about this, but we thought it was better than Rodney Scott’s by far. Food, sides and the vibe of the location. I am chugging coffee to try to avoid a food coma.
Apparently, Charleston is THE bachelorette party destination in the south. Hordes of parties roaming around, in all shapes and sizes. Coordinated outfits seem to be a big part of things. There was a pack of girls on the beach y/day with cool slogans like “Saucy and Bossy”’ “Mermaid of Honor” and “Tina Tequila” on their suits. My wife remains less than impressed w/ my inability to avoid sneaking peeks. There are also a lot of women with augmented chassis. I apparently am also staring at those too much.
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