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Bruce Springsteen- Growing Up (live at Max’s Kansas City, 1972)
It’s always fascinating to see footage of big stars from back when they were playing tiny clubs or the third band from the top of the bill, since it lets you see their talent (or lack thereof) in a rawer, less refined form and with fewer of the idiosyncrasies that develop over time. Here we get to see a more laid-back (and possibly stoned) Springsteen who even comes off a bit nervous in the beginning of the song. There’s none of the overdramatic enunciation and overblown instrumentation (be aware, those are things I love about Bruce though!) that defined him, but the songwriting quality was always there. The little Dylan-esque vocal moments also made me smile, because you can see Springsteen developing his own voice here but he’s still lifting from others a bit and it’s interesting to more clearly see that influence.
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Fleetwood Mac- Sisters of the Moon (live from the Mirage tour)
This video/performance is simply perfect. There are enough tiny transcendent parts like Mick Fleetwood having a roadie pour beer into his mouth or Lindsey Buckingham’s open shirt and hat combo to make the video excellent before you even get to the amazing power of Stevie Nicks, possibly at her peak as a live performer here. Her wailing “you say no baby!” followed by what sounds like her speaking in tongues packs more punch into 30 seconds than most performers ever achieve, and she just twirls away like it’s nothing. As always, the other members of Fleetwood Mac get a bit outshined by Stevie, but the band jam at the end is nothing short of epic, with Lindsey especially powering through some insane playing. It’s been said many times, but the reason Fleetwood Mac worked is the competition between the performers to constantly out-do each other, which pushed all of them further and further in live performance.
And how can you not love Stevie’s crazy faces from 4:56-5:18, or her saying “You have no idea how many stuffed animals live at my house” as she leaves the stage?
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Joni Mitchell- Carey
Carey is a track that seems to get comparatively overlooked when people talk about Blue, since it lacks the devastating sadness of songs like River or A Case Of You, but isn’t quite as uptempo and joyous as All I Want or have the enjoyable snippiness of California. It’s a song that cuts to the very heart of the album though and perfectly illustrates some of the album’s main themes: the tension between wanting to be in a relationship and the desire to have freedom to both literally and metaphorically keep traveling, as well as the desire for an expensive upscale lifestyle in contrast to a youthful bohemian life.
The song starts with Joni in Greece, coming up with excuses to leave (“My fingernails are filthy, I got beach tar on my feet”) but there’s no anger or sadness in the vocal which makes it seem like she doesn’t actually want to leave even as she says “it’s really not my home”. The chorus has Joni and Carey getting dressed up to go out for a night on the town. I’ve long thought Carey’s cane is just a thinly veiled reference to doing some coke before you go out, but I’ve also read that he was a real person who walked with a cane so you can make your own call on that one. The Mermaid Cafe verse has such delight in Joni’s voice that it nicely mirrors the emotion of someone getting drunk with their friends (She downs at least 3 rounds of drinks and a bottle of wine) and even though she calls Carey “the bright red devil who keeps me in this tourist town”, there’s affection behind it. Carey’s reappearance in “California” as “the red red rogue” and how she’s returning “strung out on another man” lends more credence to the idea that Joni cared about him more than she let on.
The next verse has Joni fantasizing about the life she could lead elsewhere, with no real certainty or grand plans, just wanting a bit of luxury and beauty (“I’ll rent me a grand piano and put some flowers ‘round my room”) beyond what she has, but ultimately she decides to enjoy her life there and focus on the music and Carey for a little longer, which is also illustrated by the repetition of the first verse, showing the passage of time and how it’s becoming more and more difficult for her to leave. However, that desire for.
The final verse gives us an expanded version of the first verse’s conclusion
Maybe it’s been too long a time
Since I was scramblin’ down in the street
Now they got me used to that clean white linen
And that fancy French cologne
The emphasis on repeating the finer things she misses brings home the idea that her desire for “the good life” is why she’s really leaving, even as she resents the fact that she wants them so much. Joni’s desire for nice things and to not have to live a bohemian life resurfaces throughout her catalog, most notably The Boho Dance and in The Last Time I Saw Richard and River in this album. Even though having a good time with Carey can make up for losing some of her freedom, it can’t make up for the loss of a high-class lifestyle, so there’s one last coke and booze fueled night before Joni really leaves for good but then she’s off in pursuit of something better, even if she’s reluctant to admit that.
Bonus trivia fact for the non-tl;dr crowd: James Taylor plays guitar on California, All I Want, and A Case Of You, all of which are better than any James Taylor song. (I actually like James Taylor, but come on.)
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David Bowie and Nine Inch Nails- Hallo Spaceboy (live from 1995)
Pro-shot footage of the NIN/Bowie tour from 1995 has finally surfaced, and the duet performance of “Hurt” has been getting all the online hype. However, I find this performance to be much more interesting, because it sums up why the two acts together and Bowie’s diversion into industrial in the 90’s in general didn’t work. A lot of words can be used to describe Nine Inch Nails, but subtle isn’t one of them, and here the pounding beats intensify to create a wall of noise that would ultimately be cathartic if Trent were to scream over top of it. Bowie though is far too restrained and mannered in his performance style to deliver something like that, going for a more dramatic quiet intensity that usually serves him extremely well, (The man isn’t one of the most acclaimed live performers for no reason.) but doesn’t work here, because of the mismatch in tone. By the 90’s, Bowie was too mature in his musical approach to resonate with the kids and moshers in the NIN audience, even if he was performing great material (although let’s be honest, this song is faaaaaaaaaaaaaar from his best), and his audience had gotten old to the point that they didn’t want to thrash around.
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David Bowie- Lady Grinning Soul
So a lot of people might know this song because it was featured in the Runaways movie with Dakota Fanning, but this song deserves so much better than being known through its association with a movie. Although to be fair, I only really listened to it after Tori Amos picked it as one of her 5 favorite songs, so what matters isn’t how you discover songs, but how you appreciate them after.
It’s a classic, with a romantic and twinkling piano part by the underappreciated Mike Garson and a James Bond-like vibe (I would seriously LOVE to see Shirley Bassey cover this). It feels unlike any of Bowie’s other work from the Ziggy Stardust/Aladdin Sane eras, and his vocal delivery on the chorus has the perfect mix of melancholy and seduction to go with describing the woman who “will be your living end”. The lyrics have an undeniably masculine quality to them and not much mystery, but Bowie’s voice imbues them with a more complex and sensual air. It’s interesting that both this song and “Brown Sugar” by the Rolling Stones were supposedly written about the same woman, Claudia Lennear, especially since both can easily be read as drug-inspired as well.
Blondie- Hanging On The Telephone
“The telephone song” is a pretty tired pop trope, but when it’s done right, it can be epic. This is my favorite song on an album full of amazing songs (seriously, if you don’t have Parallel Lines, go get it right now. I’ll wait.) and that’s largely due to Debbie Harry’s perfect performance. The original mostly unknown version by The Nerves proves that the song has a solid core, but it needed that extra something special that Harry brought to the table. The lyrics are vulnerable, but there’s a confidence and commanding power in her voice that keeps the song from becoming whiny or too needy. “Don’t leave me hanging on the telephone” is a plea and a threat (as evidenced by the stalker behavior in the first verse) simultaneously. When she sings “your voice across the line gives me a strange sensation”, it’s a perfect mix of sex and aggression that other versions (notably Cat Power and Def Leppard) could only dream of achieving. “Call Me” may be more well-known, but this is Blondie’s definitive phone song.
