Ardent Studios – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Primal Scream – Rocks

I posted Rocks Off by the Stones a couple of weeks ago, and Clive (Thanks Clive!) said that song influenced this song by Primal Scream. I took a listen, and I absolutely love it. It sounds like the Faces to me…pardon the pun, but that primal seventies rock. I told Clive it has a throwback sound to it. This was a departure from what they usually did..

This sure isn’t Britpop, which was popular at the time. You can tell when they recorded this that it’s supposed to sound like it could’ve been on a jukebox in 1973, and that is a wonderful thing. When it came out, the song and album baffled some critics, but it connected with a wider audience. It was their biggest UK hit to date. It was on the album Give Out But Don’t Give Up.

They decided to record in Memphis at Ardent Studios, the same place Big Star cut their records, in a location with a southern atmosphere. The idea was to tap into the same groove and gospel feel that the Stones did briefly in Muscle Shoals. The sessions were not smooth. They brought in Tom Dowd to produce, a legend whose resume included Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Eric Clapton. Dowd was used to working with bands who could cut a track live, warts and all. Primal Scream didn’t work that way. It was a constant party in the studio, and Dowd had to work through that.

The album was not easy to finish. Some tracks were reworked in London, others remixed to strip out what the label saw as “too much American bar-band” in favor of something more radio-friendly. Critics were split; some thought it was a brave move, others called it a lazy “Stones cosplay.” But for all the mixed reviews, Rocks came out swinging as the lead single in early 1994, and it worked.

One critic compared the album to U2’s Rattle and Hum, not in sound, but because of their desire to discover American influences with this album. I like it when bands do something different than expected. That is how you grow, and they took a shot, and to me, they ended up with a winner. Jimmy Miller, former producer of the Stones’ golden age, mixed a version of this as well.

The album peaked at #2 in the UK, #22 on the US Heatseekers Albums, and #12 in New Zealand in 1994.

The single peaked at #7 in the UK, #47 in Canada, and #8 in New Zealand in 1994.

Rocks

Dealers keep dealing, thieves keep thievingWhores keep whoring, junkies keep scoringTrade is on the meat rack, strip joints full of hunchbacksBitches keep a bitching, clap just keeps itching

Ain’t no use in praying, that’s the way it’s staying, babyJohnny ain’t so crazy, he’s always got a line for the ladies(Yeah, yeah, yeah)

Get your rocks off, get your rocks off, honeyShake ’em now, now, get ’em off downtownGet your rocks off, get your rocks off, honeyShake ’em now, now, get ’em off downtown

Creeps a-keep crawling, drunks a-keep fallingTeasers keep a-teasing, holy Joe’s a preacherCops keep busting, hustlers keep a hustlingDeath just keeps knocking, souls are up for auction

Ain’t no use in praying, that’s the way it’s staying, babyJohnny ain’t so crazy, he’s always got a line for a lady(Yeah, yeah, yeah)

Get your rocks off, get your rocks off, honeyShake ’em now, now, get ’em off downtownGet your rocks off, get your rocks off, honeyShake ’em now, now, get ’em off downtown (yeah, yeah)

Ain’t no use in praying, that’s the way it’s staying, babyJohnny ain’t so crazy, he’s always got a line for the lady(Oh, yeah, yeah)

Get your rocks off, get your rocks off, honeyShake ’em now, now, get ’em off downtownGet your rocks off, get your rocks off, honeyShake ’em now, now, get ’em off downtown

Get your rocks off, get your rocks off, honeyGet your rocks off, get your rocks off, honeyGet your rocks off, get your rocks off, honeyGet your rocks off, get your rocks off, honey

Get your rocks off, get your rocks off, honeyGet your rocks off, get your rocks off, honey

…

Big Star – Thirteen

Big Star was the best band never heard. This song is an absolutely perfect song about adolescence. I played it to my then 14-year-old son and it made him a Big Star fan now 10 years later. This song is the most covered song by Big Star with 49 different covers. It’s almost a perfect acoustic song. The song is about an adolescent guy and his girlfriend who are rock fans being what 13-14-year-olds are…confused and lost.

There is not a bad song on the first album. The song was originally featured on the 1972 album #1 Record. It was released as a single by Big Star with “Watch The Sunrise” as the B-Side, on Ardent Records, but was mislabeled as “Don’t Lie To Me”. Chris Bell and Alex Chilton were the two main songwriters.

Bell and Chilton wanted to emulate the Lennon/McCartney formula as much as they could, so they shared credit on many of the songs on #1 Record even though there was, in fact, little writing collaboration between the two. “Thirteen,” was entirely Chilton’s creation.

This was ranked #396 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest songs. Artists who have covered this include Evan Dando, Garbage, Elliot Smith, Wilco, and Kathryn Williams.

Alex Chilton: “I don’t know where it came from but I made up this wild bit of guitar in 15 minutes. You don’t hear many 20-year-olds doing that.”

Thirteen

Won’t you let me walk you home from school
Won’t you let me meet you at the pool
Maybe Friday I can
Get tickets for the dance
And I’ll take you

Won’t you tell your dad, get off my back
Tell him what we said ’bout ‘Paint It Black’
Rock ‘n Roll is here to stay
Come inside where it’s okay
And I’ll shake you

Won’t you tell me what you’re thinking of
Would you be an outlaw for my love
If it’s so, well, let me know
If it’s no, well, I can go
I won’t make you

Tommy Hoehn – Blow Yourself Up… Power Pop Friday

I’ve been reading about the early to mid-seventies Memphis scene and have found out that we missed out on some great power pop that was never heard by the general public. To my readers I have to pass all of this along. I do appreciate of you reading about these more unknown artists…but if one person listens to some of these posts and likes one…it makes it worth it…it also feels good living up to my WP power pop name.

Tommy Hoehn is another in a long line of musicians who should have been heard but it just didn’t happen. I would have never thought of Memphis as a power pop location but a generation of local musicians were heavily influenced by the Beatles, Who, and the Kinks. They took mid-sixties pop… along with Badfinger and the Raspberries and put a different spin on it.

The most known band from that period from Memphis is Big Star…you won’t hear that sentence a lot. Tommy Hoehn played with Big Star’s Chris Bell and Alex Chilton as well as helping out on Big Star’s 3rd album. “Blow Yourself Up” is full of hooks and his voice is perfect for power pop.

All of these musicians at the time hung out a lot at Ardent Studios. The owner John Fry would let them record and gave many keys to come in when they could and no one took advantage of it for a long time. That is one reason many of these artists sounded really good…they had time to get a sound they wanted.

This song was released in 1977 on Power Play Records, a local Memphis label and it was a regional hit. That same year, Power Play Records released Hoehn’s first solo album Spacebreak, which contained two of the songs Hoehn had recorded with Prix as well as the Blow Yourself Up single.

Blow Yourself Up was featured on Rhino’s D.I.Y.: Come Out and Play: American Power Pop (1975-78) compilation that was released in 1993.

He continued to release albums in the 80s, 90s, and 2000’s. In late 2009, Hoehn began work on a solo album tentatively titled Pi. However, in December 2009, he was diagnosed with cancer, and became too ill to sing lead vocals on the album. He died on June 24, 2010, at the age of 55.

Blow Yourself Up

She lie / in a cool repose / She breathing
Tries to believe I don’t know it
I’m not dull, I show it
She shies away:
Shaken / and I push her just a little
Even enough to fool just her
Ooo I really mussed her
Cutchya’ I’ll blow yourself up

She-vades / Such a crude contempt
I invade
She gets away and I feel it
Then I just can’t hide it
She shies away
Thinkin’ / There’s a full moon, I’m not thinkin’
Stupid as nails she keeps askin’
“Who just opened my door?”
Come in and blow yourself up

Stop! We don’t care!
Step above, I could stare –
In your eyes, for a week
Maybe two
They’re so blue…

She lie! / In a room she made to wonder
Tries to believe in a reason
Frets inside her feelings
Comin’ so close – solo!
And the overcast is breathing
Even the leaves gonna shudder
I see stars and colors
Something to blow yourself up