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

Yo Ma Ma-Stephen Kalinich & Jon Tiven/Wussy

The garage band grows (ever) older

By Xgau Feb 5, 2013 5:34AM

Yo Ma Ma: Symptomology/Stephen Kalinich & Jon Tiven: Shortcuts to Infinity (MsMusic)

Kalinich started writing lyrics for the Beach Boys in the '60s and went on from there; Tiven fronted the Yankees' 1978 garage-rock one-off High 'n' Inside before establishing himself as the go-to producer for soul singers too far over the hill to bring his songs alive. But now, at 70 and 57, the two collaborators pack two distinct garage-rock albums into one double-jewelbox, with Tiven the vocalist on all 31 tracks after a layoff of over three decades. Predictably, I prefer the punky Symptomology to the hippieish Shortcuts to Infinity, but on both records the familiar-sounding tunes stick to the eardrums, delivering lyrics that are quite funny or sufficiently wise. Formally and sonically, it's received save some extraneous horns. But as human expression it's inspired, with Cody Dickinson's North Mississippi drums driving it toward the immediate future. A MINUS

 

Wussy: Berneice Huff and son, Bill sings . . . Popular Favorites  (free Shake It mixtape)

I claim no objectivity about this wittingly ramshackle collection of remixes, demos, live versions, covers, and ancient interview snippets except as regards the number of times I've chosen to put it on at bedtime or breakfast‑-partly because my wife is as big a fan as I am, but partly because I knew by play two that what nonfans might consider its self-indulgences would never obtrude. The excellent new songs are all southern Ohio covers, two from their allies in the Afghan Whigs and one from someone named Jenny Mae. But if you believe that Lisa Walker may be the finest female singer working today, and that this band has never written a song you'll mind hearing again, then alternate versions are just a way to reaccess her vocal invention and their collective touch. Even the 2:33 worth of snippets fit in‑-Chuck and Mark are funny guys. Available gratis, of course, to anyone who likes 'em enough to visit their website. B PLUS

 

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132Comments
CHRIS DRUMM (cdrummbks)
Feb 8, 2013 7:30AM
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I was able to find four-fifths of Milo's tracks on MOG: http://goo.gl/DtPff.​ Thanks to a tip from Bradley, one of the missing, the Danny Frankel, I was able to buy the whole album for a measly five bucks as a CD-quality (AIFF) download at http://goo.gl/gDWPE.​ Oddly, the "high-quality MP3" will run you a dollar more.
Bradley Sroka
Feb 7, 2013 10:25PM
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Milo, thank you so much for posting this! I've tried to make Spotify playlists out of your mixes, but half of the tracks are not available on that service. So I thought I'd put them on a wishlist for when my emusic credits re-up. Again, many are not there. Well, I thought, I do have a gift card to iTunes--maybe I'll try there. Thankfully, they have more of the tracks for sale, but some are "Album Only" downloads. Which for me means I've struck out again.

This is no reflection on Milo of course--he did his job, and I appreciate him sharing the fruit of his labor. But it's kind of hard out here for us fans sometimes. If I had the money to by entire albums for each of these, I would. Promise. The songs I am listening to are terrific. But alas that's not going to happen anytime soon. (I did get a teaching gig though, so who knows what the future holds?)

For those looking for the Dan Willis track, digital outlets list it as "Gnossienne7," all one word. In other news, I learned that Henry Threadgill's hard-to-find 1983 album Just the Facts and Pass the Bucket is now available as a download at iTunes. Recommended.
Greg Morton (GMort)
Feb 7, 2013 9:29PM
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Thanks Milo. More fun in the real world (of 2012 jazz).
Not. Milo. Miles.
Feb 7, 2013 9:12PM
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Because tomorrow and the next day have basically been canceled, I had enough time to finish my jazz discs early. And in the interest of not disrupting the new Friday titles, I'll post the track lists now.

 

My parameters for inclusion may seem obscure, but there's reasons every number was included, however eccentric. Just ask if you have questions.

 

 JAZZ 2012

Vol. One

 

IN AND OUT OF DUTCH

 

1. Tony Overwater Trio, "Tourist Point of View"

2. Dan Willis and Velvet Gentlemen, "Gnossienne #7"

3. Mary Halvorson Quintet,  "Sinks When

    She Rounds the Bend (No. 22)"

4. Danny Frankel, "Apple Cider Vinegar"

5. Michael Formanek, "Soft Reality"

6. Wadada Leo Smith, "Emmett Till: Defiant, Fearless"

7. J.D. Allen Trio, "The Matador and the Bull (Toro)"

8. Nublu Orchestra/Butch Morris, "Preservation"

    (Live 2007)

 

JAZZ 2012

Vol. Two

 

ANTIC SPIRITS

 

1. Ahleuchatistas, "Vanished"

2. Rudresh Mahanthappa, "Waiting Is Forbidden"

3. Roscoe Mitchell, "Carefree #2"

4. The Whammies, "Dutch Masters"

5. Henry Threadgil Zooid, "Ambient Pressure Thereby"

6. David Virelles, "Our Birthright"

7. Neil Pearlman, "The Laundry Set"

8. Ravi Coltrane, "Marilyn & Tammy"

9. Steve Lehman Trio, "Mr. E."

 

JAZZ 2012

Vol. Three

 

WARE THE WILD THINGS ARE

 

1. Jenny Scheinman, "A Ride with Polly Jean"

2. Mole, "PB"

3. Tim Berne, "Scanners"

4. Vijay Iyer Trio, "Little Pocket Sized Demons"

5. Food, "Galactic Roll"

6. Mucca Pazza, "Last Days"

7. Bud Powell, "Celia"

8. Weasel Walter/Mary Halvorson/Peter Evans,

     "Baring Teeth"

9. David S. Ware Quartet, ""Freedom Suite, Part One"

    (Live, 1998)

jreamteam
Feb 7, 2013 8:47PM
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dylan is cool, but right now this Kitty EP is the shⅰt.
Bradley Sroka
Feb 7, 2013 6:03PM
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"Just Like Me"--now there's a tearjerker. No association with TV required :)
Paul Albone (Melbourne Paul)
Feb 7, 2013 4:46PM
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Bradley, Dylan's own "Lord Protect my Child" always worked better for me than "Forever Young", especially sung by Susan Tedeschi.  I haven't got around to Parenthood yet- too much parenting to do, but I am sure "FY" could work tearjerkingly in a  tv/cinematic setting. Beautiful melody.

Now, I rate Brad Paisley's "Just like me" more.  And the sicko in me will always love RT's "End of the Rainbow".  Experiencing a child growing up certainly makes these songs ring a little louder. 

I made a CD of my 3.5 yr old's favourite songs last week. He seriously loves these, nothin' do do with me pushin' 'em on him:

 

Satisfaction

I can't stand it (clapton)

Yellow Submarine

Octopuses Garden (Love version with strings an' all)

Only Love can Break your Heart

Bananaphone

Man Gave Names to all the animals

Get off of my cloud

Here comes the Sun

Keep on Rockin' in the Freeworld

You are my sunshine

Layla

 

He just loves riffs.

 

Greg Morton (GMort)
Feb 7, 2013 4:08PM
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Sorry to break the tearjerker theme but Run, Don't Walk to the Breasts, Buttocks, CBS, Grammys link. And while you read it, remember this -- someone got paid lots and lots of money to write that memo.
Bradley Sroka
Feb 7, 2013 3:44PM
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Parenthood is a tearjerker. Look out! (EDIT: Another warning: you need to watch it from the beginning. Tuning into a random episode will likely not impress you. On the surface this is just a conventional family drama, but start from the start and you'll catch subtle nuances in the interactions between the characters that will bowl you over.)
Graham Ashmore née gdash
Feb 7, 2013 3:27PM
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Bradley, I'm with Ellen Willis on this, love Dylan's singing on Planet Waves. Hell, I remember a friend (the one who said the Squeezing Out Sparks show was the best he ever saw, which I mentioned in a previous thread; come to think of it, he was a Xgau reader, told me the "rename David Crosby" entry was his favourite; wonder if he's reading this: if you managed a small Upper East Side bookstore in the mid-nineties owned by horrible insane digustingly rich people to give their crack-addicted daughter something to do, you're who I mean, David...)...

...uh, where was I? Oh yeah, his favourite Dylan album was Blood On the Tracks, and he HATED the singing on it when it came out. Isn't Uncle Bob always doing that to us? Street Legal strikes me as one of his vocal peaks (and yes, boozy it is, you can smell the bourbon). For the record, I like his singing and love the playing on "Forever Young", it's just those damn words (give me the Kinks' "Wonderboy" anytime), and watching Parenthood is too damn specific a thing to change my mind (cut to me watching Parenthood, playing "Forever Young" ten times running, weeping).
Bradley Sroka
Feb 7, 2013 1:16PM
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I came to love "Forever Young" when I started watching the newish show Parenthood. The fast version is the theme song (in America--apparently it was not cleared for use in other markets). The lyrics are perfect for a show about a family and it's three generations and how they grow and learn to raise their children (including how the grandparents continue to raise and learn from their grown children). This would be totally saccharine except the characters and relationships in the show are so complex, and in my opinion the sound of Dylan's singing these lyrics by "yowling up the stairs" matches that complexity of tone. I like Planet Waves, but I do struggle with the sound of his voice--it's so thin and course on this album and Before the Flood. I've come to like it, but that was an obstacle. I believe Ellen Willis called his voice "beautiful" on Planet Waves, and that remark continues to confuse me.
Not. Milo. Miles.
Feb 7, 2013 1:03PM
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Here's a quick question I'm throwing out to those more "tech-savvy" than me (which is just about everybody) ...

Using my Nero disc-burning system, whenever I insert a source disc that contains something like a video or cover art as well as the music tracks, I cannot get the tracks to open for individual copying, only playing. What can be done?


Greg Morton (GMort)
Feb 7, 2013 1:03PM
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More Before the Flood please. Much more, esp. "All Along the Watchtower".

And much less "Forever Young". I never could get into Planet Waves sufficiently since no matter which side you played, you couldn't get away from it. We like Dylan for his opaqueness, not his clarity.

Graham Ashmore née gdash
Feb 7, 2013 12:54PM
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Paul H., I should have specified that I was responding to Melbourne Paul's '70s album list [EDIT: corrected], not your playlist. You make an interesting point - whom you're directing the playlist to makes all the difference; all I know is, any list of mine would include "Up to Me".
Mongo Vauche
Feb 7, 2013 12:26PM
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"I just need to hold that glowering Hearts of Fire Dylan in my moisturizer-thirsty Gen X hands."

Mongo get frisky feelings too.
Nora Hollywood316
Feb 7, 2013 12:12PM
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If that link doesn't work, I hope this one will.

http://tinyurl.com/a​sfqolf
Nora Hollywood316
Feb 7, 2013 11:41AM
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JeffC77 -- There is a wonderful television movie version of 'Bernice Bobs Her Hair' with Shelley Duvall. I highly recommend it.

http://dl.dropbox.co​m/u/31994696/F.%20Sc​ott%20Fitzgerald%20-​%20Bernice%20Bobs%20​Her%20Hair%20(1976)%​20Shelley%20Duvall.z​ip
Paul Hayden (Paul H.)
Feb 7, 2013 8:12AM
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My Dylan playlist was based on which songs had the highest play count on iTunes plus which songs would serve the newbie who has heard the classics and wants to take the next step.  If I picked all the great '70s Dylan songs my list would look a lot like Melbourne Paul's.  And YES to Street Legal which made my Anti-Dean's list (the only one who voted for it?).  It was hard to pick just one from that.

Great idea, Ryan! 
CHRIS DRUMM (cdrummbks)
Feb 7, 2013 7:51AM
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Back to the Tom Hull Rhapsody Playlist, I gave a link to the actual playlist Greg & I made. But it might not be that easy to find Tom's essay with his top ten albums list. A number of you (11) have clicked on the playlist link, so if you couldn't find the write-up and want to see it, here it is: http://goo.gl/6q07d.​


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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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