Robert Christgau's Music Criticism Blog - Expert Witness - MSN Music

Gurf Morlix/Blaze Foley

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By Xgau May 13, 2011 4:01AM

Gurf Morlix: Blaze Foley's 113th Wet Dream (Rootball)

Eccentric even for a city that brags about its eccentrics, Austinite Blaze Foley inspired Lucinda Williams's "Drunken Angel" and had the best luck of his star-crossed career when Merle Haggard made "If I Could Only Fly" the title song of an excellent 2000 comeback album that didn't sell much. By then he'd been dead a decade, killed by the gun-toting son of a friend he was standing up for. His legend hasn't been helped by master tapes that kept getting lost, stolen, or seized by federal agents, but on these 15 songs his guitarist friend Gurf gets to cherry-pick and hook up with a drummer. Irresistible as John Prine for an opening section capped by the homelessness ditty "No Goodwill Stores in Waikiki," they sink into a slough of despond that starts feeling right comfy before the record rises up with "Small Town Hero," in which the duct tape abuser gets the last word on the high school sports star. Foley never mistook his dysfunction for a cause or felt sorry for himself about anything but women, and even there not much. He made his bed wherever. A MINUS

 

Blaze Foley: Duct Tape Messiah (Lost Art)

With Foley's posthumous albums patchier than need be, this documentary soundtrack is where to pay your respects. Before he passed at 39, Foley's resonant voice had been roughed up by alcohol and the crusty life, but his easy flow was always something to hear. Without the five keepers it shares with the Morlix tribute, its slow ones would be hard to take‑-"Our Little Town" makes six minutes feel like a sermon so long the roast gets burnt‑-but Morlix doesn't do "Let Me Ride in Your Big Cadillac," "Living in the Woods in a Tree," or "Cosmic Doo Doo," and all are candidates for canonization. Too bad both records pass on "WW III," "Oval Room," and the jokingly, shockingly sadistic "Springtime in Uganda." Foley clearly never thought living in a car diminished his citizenship one little bit. B PLUS

 

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252Comments
Christopher Monsen (Chris Monsen)
May 17, 2011 6:52AM
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Since there's been some talk about the Hollies and first records, Evolution remains one of the records I remember most clearly from my childhood, along with John Lennon's Double Fantasy, The Beatles' Blue Album (or 1967-1970, if you will), Count Basie's Basie's in the Bag and the odd Kinks single (all of them my parent's records. My first purchase was Kiss Killers on cass.).

Don't think I've heard Evolution since I was about five or six years old, though. Streaming it now, and it sounds good.
Not. Milo. Miles.
May 17, 2011 6:42AM
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The Rolling Stone paradox: we all hate it.  Yet, we all read it.
Speak for yourself, kemo sabe. I haven't looked at a word of it and have no intention of doing so. Mostly because everything I've heard about this issue conforms to the following --

a never-ending stream of excruciatingly safe selections all presented with excruciatingly banal blurbs from know-nothings, nobodies, and superstars of various importance, the best of which are by now too awfully bored with complementing their co-equals to say anything worthwhile, the worst of which know so little about their craft that they had nothing worthwhile to contribute in the first place.
Michael Tatum
May 17, 2011 3:01AM
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The Rolling Stone paradox: we all hate it.  Yet, we all read it.
jeff melnick (jmel64)
May 16, 2011 8:41PM
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Yeah, Duke, we just got our Dylan copy of RS too and I'll just note that the panel of "experts" that chose the songs is all male.  Maybe if they had replaced one of those guys with Maria Muldaur we would have gotten a more interesting mix.

Also (and I'm stealing this from somebody online today) how great would it have been if they had done something like this for Stevie Wonder's 60th birthday last year?

Duke.
May 16, 2011 8:30PM
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Just went through the new Rolling Stone and was moved to comment on the sheer pussy-footing cowardice of its Dylan tribute--"High Water"??? "When the Deal Goes Down"??? one god damn song from an album after 1985? and what was with all the songs they picked from the 80s, anyway, that decade was for Dylan's music what the 50s were for the female sex.

The soundtrack pick from Wonder Boys was ace, too bad it was nestled among a never-ending stream of excruciatingly safe selections all presented with excruciatingly banal blurbs from know-nothings, nobodies, and superstars of various importance, the best of which are by now too awfully bored with complementing their co-equals to say anything worthwhile, the worst of which know so little about their craft that they had nothing worthwhile to contribute in the first place.

Why is music criticism now only written for people of whom it is assumed they haven't heard what you're speaking on? "Isis" is surely one of his great songs, but beyond including it within a loosely arranged act of canonization, opening with a widely known historical tidbit thrown in for loose psychological foregrounding, and then proceeding to 'gist' it in our general direction, what of insight or wisdom has been set down for us here?

It didn't help my mood reading through this that the section of the magazine I regularly pay for (the politics, like they say) had a piece on the financial sector's criminal class which reads like it was snorted into a tape recorder by an apoplectic in a hotbox.

The issue did have a review of a new Moby album, though--did anyone know that was happening? I hadn't the faintest.
stanpnepa
May 16, 2011 8:26PM
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Another "rave" for The Hollies "Evolution".  Found a copy recently at a yard sale for $ 1.  Nice crackly Mono.  Grabbed a cool Mel Brown LP --"Chicken Fat" too.   Xgau liked his album "The Wizard" - so I took a chance.  A fun listen. 

 

Oh and since I'm going there - anyone spend any time with Grant Green?  I heard a few tracks on my local jazz station and quite liked the CDs I've sampled.

 

Not. Milo. Miles.
May 16, 2011 8:18PM
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who's the most overrated band ever?
Castrati performances that nobody's ever heard. Buddy Bolden's outfit that nobody's ever heard. I mean, Pan probably wasn't as hot on the pipes as they claimed, either.

Most overrated recorded band? This is a media question, right?

Paul Whiteman? Naw, he got redeemed to a decent degree.

Pat Boone? Yeah, but the hype is so distant it doesn't matter. (See: Mitch Miller.)

Lawrence Welk? Eeh, he's always been in a sort of toilet.

What is the Eagles' legacy, really?

I mean, who's had a pernicious influence, unchallenged, in popular music?

stanpnepa
May 16, 2011 8:10PM
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I heard a lot of Kenton growing up.  My dad must have 50 of his albums.  Though I leaned more to the Ellington and Basie he played.  Dad also dug a lot of that ear-piercing trumpet stuff:  Harry James, Maynard Ferguson, Woody Herman (Pete Candoli), etc.   Sometimes when I stop by he's cranking it up (at 82, why not?) and it still drives me a little batty.
SpaceCoast - JimC
May 16, 2011 7:53PM
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Added thanks to Mark B for notes on MJQ and Kenton. Both have box retrospectives; maybe I'll get around to them during a slow spell.

Jim Morrison was born here in Melbourne but moved away after a few months when his father got transferred. Every few years, the local paper rehashes the old myths and quotes some local who "remembers" hanging out with him. Jesus. A friend of mine, whom I otherwise love and respect, once swore up and down to me that they went to high school together. I must have been in a forgiving mood because I didn't go off on my usual rant and tell him he was full of it.

I like the Doors as a band ok, but never cared for Jimbo. What a waste. I make do with their Very Best, (despite "The End" which I have about as much use for as everyone else here), plus "Moonlight Drive", "Unknown Soldier" and "Five To One" tacked on.

Tonight's big question, before I say bye-bye awaiting tomorrow's twofer, who's the most overrated band ever? Doors, Floyd or Eagles? Feel free to contribute your own picks.
Tom Hull
May 16, 2011 7:50PM
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How to find my lists (and other things) at tomhull.com:

  1. Look under Local Links for Music, and click that.
  2. For the ratings database, look for Introduction to Ratings Database, and click that. The rest of the file has more or less self-explanatory links to all sorts of music-related things.
  3. On the gray page, the ratings are organized by genre and (sometimes) period. The period is when someone got started: Duke Ellington is Jazz '20s, Thelonious Monk Jazz '40s, Rolling Stones Rock '60s, etc. I used 10-year chunks for rock and 20-year chunks for jazz because at the time I came up with this I had more rock than jazz -- no longer true.
Under each genre/period there are two links, with the second one labelled DB. You probably want the second one, because it has both what I rated and a bunch of unrated records. The latter are records that show up as recommended in various guides (far from complete, but there are quite a few of them): for instance, anything I noticed that AMG gives 4.5 stars to, Penguin Guide 3.5 stars, etc. I add things when I see them, but most of that research was done 7-10 years ago. In the DB files the ratio of blue to black print gives a rough indication of how well I know an artist. The A/A+ lists are self-explanatory subsets.

There are also several thousand reviews and crypto-reviews and pidgin notes scattered elsewhere, but I've never figured out how to stuff them into a real database like I did for Christgau's CG reviews.


Michael Tatum
May 16, 2011 7:49PM
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I am so sorry not all of you were able to attend the first meeting of the Expert Witness blog commentators, the Expert Witness Wits.  In attendance were Jason Gubbels, his son Mingus, and myself.  The charming pic is here...

 

burraburrahttp://www​.facebook.com/home.p​hp#!/photo.php?fbid=​216308615060983&set=​a.101767516515094.42​90.100000455386879&t​ype=1&theater

 

Pop music criticism...bringing​ people together!  (tear rolls down cheek)

Greg Morton (GMort)
May 16, 2011 7:46PM
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The Velvets were later, but at the time of Evolution my hay hauling and irrigation pipe moving buddies and I would "imitate" the Hollies by singing "Hey hairy hams" as loud as we could out in the field.  Why?  Because we were high school boys, that's why.

SpaceCoast - JimC
May 16, 2011 7:19PM
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Pretty much what I figured re:MJQ. Thanks again, Tom.

Shout-outs to Milo and Xgau for Hollies "Evolution". Missed that one somehow.

Heartwarming NPR blog  by Bob Boilen w/video on Paul Simon and fan live in Toronto.

http://goo.gl/MnGDV

sharpsm
May 16, 2011 6:51PM
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I didn't hear of the Velvet Underground until Lou got a hit with "Walk On The Wild Side". I wanted to buy Transformer but didn't have enough money. The record store guy sold me a copy of White Light White Heat for 50 cents instead, told me it sounded just like Transformer. When I got it home I was...surprised.
Not. Milo. Miles.
May 16, 2011 6:39PM
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Milo -- did your generation listen to the Velvets during that time period,
Well, I don't know about my generation, but kids in dink MT towns sure didn't even know they existed. My freshman year in college when I walked into that Bozeman bookstore and picked up Lilian Roxon is when I discovered the VU. I was crushed when I found out they were already gone.

It's interesting that the Mothers of Invention, on the same label and everything, penetrated, while the VU did not. (I guess it shows who they thought was really dangerous.) ((Of course, there were those comic-book ads, too.))

PS: As a follow-up further tribute to my perceptive old music buddy, he became a bit of a Doors freak after the debut. I dropped out and eventually we had a rift when I told him I thought a lot of their sides were tedious. We really came together on "Riders on the Storm," though, and, gotta say, it was this same guy who turned me on to Iggy and the Stooges debut. ("Really important record, man.") And he credited his fascination with Jimbo.

Years later, I tried to return the favor with Joy Division, but he couldn't hear anything going on. Say la wee wee.

Joe Lunday
May 16, 2011 6:32PM
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Michael, I just want to mention that 'apercus' is a word I definitely would not know if not for Christgau.  Specifically, the Los Angeles review.  Don't know if the 'xgau sez' tumblr has put up an entry for that, but if not, they need to get on that.  
JY49NY
May 16, 2011 6:29PM
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Michael - you are correct, sir.  Butler sings it on Lost in the Stars and Johansen's version is on September Songs.  I like both versions equally but prefer Lost in the Stars overall. 
Michael Tatum
May 16, 2011 6:29PM
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Milo -- did your generation listen to the Velvets during that time period, or did that not really come through for you guys until later?  I don't think most Gen-Xers got into them until post-high school -- I know I sure didn't. 
Michael Tatum
May 16, 2011 6:24PM
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Joe -- wasn't that Richard Butler of the P-Furs on that track...?  Or was that on the other Weill comp/tribute?

 

(Later)  Okay, looked it up.  David Jo is on September Songs, the other Weill comp, by which I mean the other Weill rock-oriented comp/tribute.  I always thought September Songs was spottier, which kind of blew my mind -- an album with Sting on it is better than one with PJ Harvey on it??

Not. Milo. Miles.
May 16, 2011 6:20PM
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The impact of the Doors' debut at the time is hard to exaggerate. Psychologically, it was very different from previous rock albums, even arty British ones.

However, even in high school, my music-goofy circle couldn't get through "The End" without laffing like crazy (the same guy who was perceptive about Alice Cooper, btw, thought that the Kurt Weill cover really jumped out as an original sound, researched who that was, and gave us all a cool as sh!t tidbit to lord over the mere uprights in the hallways).

But a few years later, there was a cathartic redemption with the Gizmos and "Chicken Queen (The [A$$] End)." After nearly expiring with glee several times ("Chicken?? ... "Yes, Queen?" ... "Chicken???" ... "yes, queen?") I found I could listen to Jimbo's epic without laffing at it. Now I just smile at its more preposterous moments, and often turn it off before the, uh, end.
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about the blogger

Robert Christgau

Starting in 1967, Robert Christgau has covered popular music for The Village Voice, Esquire, Blender, Playboy, Rolling Stone, and many other publications. He teaches in New York University's Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music, maintains a comprehensive website at robertchristgau.com, and has published five books based on his journalism. He has written for MSN Music since 2006.

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