As we put the finishing touches on the calamity mix, here's a rundown of the comments submitted by some of the mixers regarding their NYC song choices:
Lightning Strikes (Not Once But Twice) - The Clash
Album: Sandinista! (1980)
Submitted by: Jay
I admit it, I'm a Sandinista! lover. It's reach definitely exceeds its grasp, but I love hearing them try to stretch. For purposes of this comp, what's not to love? Strummer name checks NY right out of the box. Thanks for putting it in the pole position - that's what I was hoping when I sent it.
Blues Concerning My Girl - The Bethlehem Exit
Album: What In The World (1966)
I'm Going Back to NYC - Nobody's Chyldren
Album: Stand Up Girl!- USA Garage Greats (1966)
Submitted by: Jeff
These two (The Bethlehem Exit and Nobody's Chyldren) come courtesy of the Twilightzone blog where Gyro1966 has unlocked the vaults on his collection of rare 45s and turned them into series of comps under the title USA Garage Greats: 1965-1967. Over a hundred volumes and still going strong with a new one every day. If your into mid sixties Nuggets style rock, this is the mother lode. I really don't know anything about these bands. I don't think Nobody's Chyldren is the same band as Nobody's Children that did "Good Times" which Uncle Tupelo covered.
I picked "I'm Going Back to NYC" after running searches on my library for "New York", "NYC" and the such. Later, after I had submitted my two songs "Blues Concerning My Girl" came up in the shuffle and I thought "OMG this one has got to be on the comp."
Stompin' At The Savoy - Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong
Album: Ella And Louis Again (1957)
Submitted by: Lance
I like what producer Norman Granz says in the *Ella And Louis Again* liner notes: "You know in the recording business we talk about the wonderful rehearsals or practice takes that are never recorded, and figuratively kick ourselves for not having the tape machines on when these gems occur. This time we were lucky -- we had the tapes going on a rehearsal of 'Stompin' At The Savoy' and, as you can tell from Louis' and Ella's lyrics, after the first chorus they were off and
running with their own lyrics, and we felt the result so spontaneously exciting that we decided to keep it.
Princess of Little Italy - Little Steven
Bootleg: Baptism at the Rockpalast - Essen, Germany (Oct 1982)
Submitted by: Mike
As compiler, I invoked executive privilege (and the 80 min cut-off) to squeeze an extra song in. I saw Little Steven twice while living in Washington Heights during grad school, being the willing accomplice of my good friend Alex, hungrily hoping for the grail-like Bruce surprise guest spot that never did happen. Unlike our many other, possibly misguided, forays for Clarence, La Bamba and the Hubcaps, John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown band, and many others, the two times seeing the man previously-known as Miami Steve, and later Silvio Dante, did not disappoint. While "I am a Patriot" from his second album with a more world-view may be his finest post-Southside song, the first one, my vinyl long since gone in cross-country moves, is his NYC/NJ album. Yook this one off a good-sounding Boot from a concert in Germany - just pretend it's Tramp's in NYC. Bonus NYC bit - ran into him at coat check exiting Caroline's comedy club where we were seeing Pee Wee Herman (without, it should be noted, any expectation of Bruce showing up). As a New Yorker, I did not acknowledge him, but Alex had to go up and ask him about his plans for new recordings.
Scrapple From The Apple - Charlie Parker
Album: A Soulful Mood (1947)
Submitted by: Lance
52nd Street must've been a magical place for jazzbos in the late 1940s and '50s, with the likes of Billie Holiday, Coleman Hawkins, Art Tatum, Dizzy Gillespie, and Duke Ellington holding court. But to these ears, Bird was the best. Maybe not as disciplined as Duke, but the Parker imagination has no equal in the history of jazz. I think you can also make the argument that Bird's music perfectly captures the vibrant, frenetic, and chaotically hopeful nature at the heart of New York City perhaps better than any musician before or since.
Nueva York - The Coast
Album: Expatriate (2008)
Submitted by: Wayne
The Coast are a retro 80's four piece from Toronto and this is a song from their debut.
High in the City - Lou Reed
Album: New Sensations (1984)
Submitted by: Jay
To me, Reed is the archetype NYC artist, and New Sensations is one of his most fun records. No overt mention of NYC, and the only name check goes to Sutton Place, but we all know what 'The City' is, right?
The Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side - The Magnetic Fields
Album: 69 Love Songs, Vol. 1 (1999)
Submitted by: Mike
This band was under my radar until the brilliant "69 Love Songs", where quantity had a quality all its own. I imagine Stephen Merritt hanging out in the bars of NYC, scribbling notes that became songs like this. I saw them in Pittsburgh, and was offended in that I was one of the handful of people other than his mother to buy the 3-disc set, yet on the back of a huge line when they played Carnegie Mellon. I ended up 6 people from the ticket window when it sold out, but the vendor let us in for free to sit on the stairs. A great Eeyore of a voice.
Funky Broadway - Wilson Pickett
Album: The Sound of Wilson Pickett (1967)
Submitted by: Enrico
Lots of folks took a stab at this Dyke and the Blazers soul chestnut in the mid-to-late 60s and early 70s (James Brown, the Temptations, the Supremes, Steve Cropper, Jimmy Smith, Jackie Wilson, etc.) - but Wilson absolutely kills here. Pickett's cry of "dirty, filthy Broadway" reminds me of Neil Young's version "On Broadway" twenty-two years later where Neil wails "gimme some crack !"
One Day You'll Dance For Me, New York City - Thomas Dybdahl
Album: One Day You'll Dance For Me, New York City (2004)
Submitted by: Wayne
I just picked this up a couple of weeks ago and it has burrowed its way into my brain with ease. It's a cohesive record filled with a quiet melacholy. It sounded best at sunset. Although the press on this guy indicates lineage with the likes of Amos Lee and Ray Lamontagne, I hear sophisticated songs filled with atmosphere and nuance that are much more in line with David Sylvian and Paddy McAloon.
Unique New York - Jenn Grant
Album: Orchestra For The Moon (2007)
Submitted by: Wayne
Jenn is a mousy singer songwriter from Halifax and this tune is from her stellar debut.
The Vampires of New York - Marcy Playground
Album: Marcy Playground (1997)
Submitted by: Jeff
I admit it, I like Marcy Playground. I've got all three of their albums. I loved this album when it first came out, and it still gets the occasional play. "The Vampires of New York" falls into the category of songs with dark lyrics and a cheery melody, a type of song I find curiously engaging.
Only New York Going On - Francis Dunnery
Album: Tall Blonde Helicopter (1995)
Submitted by: Enrico
First saw and heard Dunnery at the WXPN Singer Songwriter Festival at Penn's Landing in the summer of 1995, where he stole the show from some of the better known performers that day. His work has always been a touch uneven for me, and I confess he fell off my radar screen, but this album still gets a lot of spins, and this song struck a chord as I was just out of college in my first apartment, my girlfriend (future wife) was studying abroad, most of my friends ended up in NYC or Boston and I was going it alone a few more miles south, and I was a couple blocks away from Pennsylvania hospital where the ambulance sirens would keep me awake well into the night.
Shattered - The Rolling Stones
Album: Some Girls (1978)
Submitted by: Mike
An obvious choice isn't necessarily a bad choice. If it's good enough for the Stones to pick to end their (IMO) last great album, then it's a fitting capper to the NYC comp. A personal choice in that this is the first Stones vinyl I owned, literally and figuratively. When I started buying music with my own money (I turned 18 in '77), the Stones seemed, like the Beatles and Zep, less than relevant as they were always on the radio with their greatness behind them. Sure we all had Hot Rocks (on 8-track!), but who bought the latest Stones albums in the mid-70s? I grew up in Bronx / Yonkers and remember getting this album at Crazy Eddie's on Fordham road in the Bronx (before it was gutted during the looting during the black-out), walking from a root canal to my summer job at Honig's Parkway (a cut-rate, independently owned department store, working in Housewares - minimum wagers asking "Can I help you?") on Bainbridge and Webster Ave. This is the album that made the Stones relevant to me (for the first, and sadly, last time), and spoke to me and my friends, and this is my favorite track.
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