The Giving of Thanks

This was so fun when we did it for Hallowe'en, let's do it again...

Happy (U.S.) Thanksgiving!



"Turkeey" by Ed Hall, from Love Poke Here (1990)

I never quite figured out why there are cat noises on a song called "Turkeey" [sic]... Ed Hall reuniting this weekend in Austin - so maybe I'll ask them. I expect to be talkin' about this album soon enough.



"Milking the Turkey Jam" by Grateful Dead, live at Kezar Stadium, San Francisco, CA (live rehearsal, 3/21/1975)

Or "Stronger Than Dirt," per the Blues for Allah album (1975). Jazzy, jammy holidays. David Crosby in session apparently.

No, not "Cold Turkey"... Can't find "Turkey Shoot"... No Sandler, nor that recent click-bait crap... Wow, what else is there?



"Ağlarsa Anam Ağlar" by Üç Hür-El, from 7" single (1973)

Yeah, because Anatolian garage-prog psych comes from Turkey! As usual, I'm thankful to Beyond the Wizards Sleeve for this one.

That was harder than expected...

Too late, I realized my mistake: I was focusing too much on the main dish. Where were the songs by The Cranberries? ... using green-bean casserole as a metaphor? ... on the Cornucopia [image above]?



"Thank You, Friends" by Big Star, from Third (1978)

Who needs a jazzy, jammy, Grateful holiday when you could have a sneering, sarcastic Thanksgiving? In the spirit of the season!



"Run to the Hills" by Iron Maiden, from The Number of the Beast (1982)

And/or??

Not sure if advertisements and Vevo are going to make or break YouTube - not cool...

Fitzcarraldo - Werner Herzog (1982)

Another one not appearing on this Sight & Sound poll results, although it apparently did receive vote(s).

Actually... I've now figured out how to identify sub-#250/#100 rankings and will be retro-fitting some earlier posts.



Fitzcarraldo
dir. Werner Herzog. 1982, Germany.
Sight & Sound 2012: Critics' #558 / Directors' #224
Roger Ebert's Great Movies
DVD from Amazon
Watch via Hulu-Plus / Amazon Instant / iTunes



Fitzcarraldo trailer (1982)

Inspired by a true(-ish) story (or event), Klaus Kinski plays a white-suited doofus hell-bent on building a grand opera house for his rubber plantation shantytown in the middle of the Peruvian jungle. Once again typecast as the obsessive monomaniac, whose previous doomed project was a Trans-Andean Railroad. Also with Claudia Cardinale as the saucy bordello madam, Molly! Interesting that both of these characters appear Irish - "Fitzcarraldo" definitely is, since he is in reality Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald.

I was immediately struck by the many apparent similarities or homages to previous epic mission films. I scheduled it following Apocalypse Now based on this expectation: the madman on a jungle river (as with Herzog's Aguirre, S&S #90), doing things his own way, his "ideas, methods... unsound." And that previous movie did provide ample food for thought. "Zap 'em with your [phonograph], man!" and "Out there with these natives, it must be a temptation to be [a white god in a sacred vessel]"... and one I already knew - the parallel production catastrophes and resulting documentaries. Hearts of Darkness (1991) for Coppola, Burden of Dreams (1982) for Herzog.



You can also find a bit of David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia, with the main character being able to work with the dangerous natives only because he's such an oddball, and the two Jivaro urchins who attach themselves (here to the drunken Huerequeque). And there are others. Along with the White God and the Drunken Cook, you could almost create a Tarot deck out of the iconic types on display: the Famous Singer, the Rubber Baron, the Fancy Whore, the Sweaty Host, the Blind Captain, the Head Hunter, the Cholo Mechanic, The River, The Jungle, The Opera House...

I was surprised to learn that the treacherous ship transport was actually not even to build the opera house directly, but for a supporting hare-brained scheme to hopefully raise funds towards the central insane idea. So, doubly mad. Quite a few expectations upended, to tell the truth - the events didn't really proceed as much like I'd thought. This was not Aguirre: The Wrath of Redux... not so much cruelty or fatality, much more logistics.

Popul Vuh provided music for the soundtrack - awesome!!

Top 40 Top 40 Songs of 1982

As promised here, we'll continue itemizing years back through the entire rock era. Cycling through the decades in randomized order (1995, 1972, 1988), we're brought around to 1982.

I was 12 years old in 1982. Mtv was huge, and I wouldn't discover punk rock for another few years. So, I listened to a lot of pop music at the time. Actually, I was listening to a lot of Genesis in 1982, having recently discovered Abacab (1981) and Three Sides Live (1982, no major US hits) but not having plunged into the Gabriel era. Regardless...

The '70s hadn't quite ended (both Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham are here), and that distinct '80s sound was just gaining traction (hey, Flock of Seagulls). Michael Jackson hadn't begun gathering together all of pop music under a separate umbrella than rock. I tried to avoid absolute crap that was hot stuff at the time (Men At Work, Toto), and also better stuff that I wasn't even aware of (Iron Maiden, Violent Femmes).

Song names link to YouTube, preferably the original Mtv video. Peak chart position and artist are provided, and even a Wikipedia link to more info on the hitsong itself. My comments are limited...

So here they are: the Top 40 pop songs from 1982 that I think hold up reasonably well today. (Here's an aggregated album list, for what it's worth.)


#1 "Our Lips Are Sealed" (#20) – The Go-Go's - wiki
A lot of the better stuff has its links to punk and post-punk, or new wave I guess.

#2 "867-5309/Jenny (live)" (#4) – Tommy Tutone - wiki
From "Fridays" tv show. I wonder if Tommy Tutone has any other good songs.

#3 "Shake It Up" (#4) – The Cars - wiki
The Cars became pretty bad not too much after they were really good.

#4 "You Got Lucky" (#20) – Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - wiki
This was probably my favorite video of 1982. It has a video game in it!

#5 "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" (#1) – Joan Jett & the Blackhearts - wiki
It's like an anthem - for rock 'n' roll!

#6 "Back on the Chain Gang" (#5) – The Pretenders - wiki
Lots of great Pretenders songs, they should have had more US hits.

#7 "Steppin' Out" (#6) – Joe Jackson - wiki
I remember how distinctly this song stood out from the rest of Mtv, and it still stands out from most '80s pop.

#8 "Shock the Monkey" (#29) – Peter Gabriel - wiki
I liked this, I liked current Genesis, but I'm pretty sure I hadn't put them together. Seems like something that would have been mentioned a lot at the time.

#9 "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" (#45) – The Clash - wiki
I'm a Combat Rock supporter, including the hits.

#10 "You Dropped a Bomb on Me" (#31) – The Gap Band - wiki
It's like an anthem - for synthfunk!!


#11 "Rock the Casbah" (#8) – The Clash - wiki
Timely, as always.

#12 "Rio" (#14) – Duran Duran - wiki
This is a pretty quality album from what I remember, but I haven't heard the whole thing in many years.

#13 "1999" (#12) – Prince - wiki
Same here. I had the 2xLP way back in the day.

#14 "Freeze-Frame" (#4) - J. Geils Band - wiki
Iconic early-Mtv video/band/song.

#15 "Eminence Front" (#68) – The Who - wiki
From the first post-Keith album, It's Hard. Listened to it a lot on cassette before I'd have known much beyond "My Generation." Oh yeah, it was a Columbia House 12-for-1¢ tape.

#16 "Hang Fire" (#20) – The Rolling Stones - wiki
Similar story to The Who, I probably could have only identified "Satisfaction" as another Stones song.

#17 "Southern Cross" (#18) – Crosby, Stills & Nash - wiki
I actually had listened to quite a bit of CSN/Y in the '70s, due to my mom having Greatest Hits, So Far on the original vinyl edition. Which I dug a lot.

#18 "Someday, Someway" (#36) – Marshall Crenshaw - wiki
Who knows? I like this song.

#19 "Always on my Mind" (#5) – Willie Nelson - wiki
I just checked: only Texan on the list. Sadly.

#20 "We Got the Beat (live)" (#2) – The Go-Go's - wiki
From Urgh! A Music War (1981). Good band.


#21 "Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go" (#8) – Soft Cell - wiki
Catchy, transgressive, British Invasion III.

#22 "Rock This Town" (#9) – The Stray Cats - wiki
I'm glad this didn't catch on as a big trend.

#23 "Don't You Want Me" (#1) – The Human League - wiki
Some review I read talked about how the vocals were more machine-like than the synthesizers.

#24 "White Wedding" (#36) – Billy Idol - wiki
Punk. (I mean Billy, not the song.)

#25 "Let It Whip" (#5) – Dazz Band - wiki
Getting close to hip-hop (for early-'80s hit music).

#26 "I Ran" (#9) – Flock of Seagulls - wiki
This one is suprisingly fun to play on Guitar Hero.

#27 "Centerfold" (#1) – J. Geils Band - wiki
I'm still convinced Martha Quinn is in this video.

#28 "Atlantic City" (#10) – Bruce Springsteen - wiki
Like Joe Jackson, this one always distinguished itself at the time. I don't think I especially liked the song, but was fascinated by the idea of this kind of music and a B&W video invading my cable-box.

#29 "Spirits in the Material World" (#11) – The Police - wiki
The Police at the height of their powers. Arguments can be made for the earlier, punkier stuff. And some will actually argue for Synchronicity, but that's bunk.

#30 "Come on Eileen" (#1) – Dexy’s Midnight Runners - wiki
Glad this didn't turn into a big trend either.


#31 "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" (#67) – David Bowie - wiki
Sometimes I like this a lot, sometimes it's just okay.

#32 "No One Like You" (#65) – The Scorpions - wiki
Now that I think of it, I'm surprised there's not more metal here. Was it all bad, or was very little very popular. I honestly don't remember...

#33 "Edge of Seventeen (live)" (#11) – Stevie Nicks - wiki
From the Us Festival, which was some kind of big deal. Stevie!!!!!

#34 "Trouble" (#9) – Lindsey Buckingham - wiki
I'd totally forgotten this song. Not a huge Fleetwood Mac fan, but I do like Lindsey Buckingham's writing and guitar playing.

#35 "I Want Candy" (#62) – Bow Wow Wow - wiki
Malcolm McClaren's post-Pistols attempt at storming the media castle, with The Ants and some underage girl.

#36 "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" (#3) – The Police - wiki
And I actually saw The Police on the Synchronicity tour, but Ghost in the Machine is superior.

#37 "Sex (I'm A...)" (#62) - Berlin - wiki
Crazy, and then they had some huge ballad hit later. That was weird.

#38 "Heat of the Moment" (#4) – Asia - wiki
I always remember that Asia was a prog supergroup, but always forget who they were. It was Steve Howe (guitarist from Yes), Carl Palmer (drummer from ELP), the keyboardist from The Buggles, and a bassist who played in King Crimson, Uriah Heep, Roxy Music and Wishbone Ash.

#39 "Somebody's Baby" (#7) – Jackson Browne - wiki
Clearly getting towards the bottom.

#40 "She's Tight" (#65) – Cheap Trick - wiki
I had access to older Cheap Trick cassettes, so I wasn't amazed by this record. But it was good, and this was probably their last hurrah.