5 Songs Aug. 2, 2024

Music from Austin, Nashville, Kentucky, Senegal, and New York/Havana.

The Gourds – “Ringing Dark and True” 1996 from Dem’s Good People. I used to listen to these guys a lot, but I pretty much forgot about them these last dozen or so years. Hearing this rollicking cut from their debut album brought back all the fun and excitement they could provide. In some respects, they were kind of an Americana take on the Pogues, bringing punk energy to folkie instrumentation. This one has a dynamic mandolin and accordion riff underpinning the track, with double time drumming and an exuberantly raucous vocal from Kev Russell. The song itself is pessimistic, confronting aging and inevitable decline at a time in life when Russell himself was almost certainly not yet 30. But it doesn’t sound gloomy. He’s raging against some dying of the light far in his future, and he’s doing it with wild abandon.

George Jones – “I Can’t Get Over What Lovin’ You Has Done” 1976 from The Battle. Sometimes it seems there’s a George Jones song for just about any mood. If you happen to wake up feeling really good about your situation, this is the song to reinforce it. “If having too much love for you could be it would be never.” That’s a lyric that alone should put songwriter Jody Emerson in the Hall of Fame. (Ishould have mentioned last week she was the co-writer of “Tattletale Eyes.”) Jones takes this declaration of extreme satisfaction and love with an underplayed approach. Sure, he bursts through a bit hard, accompanied by low-pitched harmony singers, on the part where he sings “I can’t get over,” but it’s back to gentility for “what lovin’ you has done.” The record feels like waking up knowing you’re in the best possible place for yourself. Fun (or not so fun) fact: this was made a few months after he divorced Tammy Wynette.

Midnight Star – “Planetary Invasion” 1984 from Planetary Invasion. One year after their biggest success – “No Parking on the Dance Floor” – Midnight Star didn’t realize they and all the other self-contained funk bands of the era were about to be wiped off the face of the charts. Planetary Invasion did quite well on the R&B charts, and the song “Operator” hit number one. The band would release a couple more moderately successful albums, but the r&b world was switching interest to soul crooners and divas. This song is maybe not as great as “Operator,” but it deserves more attention. After Afrika Bambaata’s 1982 “Planet Rock,” there was a mass infusion of synthesizers into the funk bands, and Midnight Star were probably the best at the new world of technofunk. This song is all groove, with heavy synth bass and lots of swirling synthetic sounds, not to mention vocal manipulations. The guitars play thick chunky chords, the rhythm tracks, including I assume those 80s synth-drums which were played by an actual drummer, propulsive as all get out. I could see this preventing parking on any decent dance floor.

Youssou N’Dour – “Gorée” 2016 from Afrika Rekk. This singer from Senegal has been one of the best musicians in the world for decades now. But that doesn’t mean I’ve given all his records a fair listen. This is one I’d completely overlooked. It turns out I can’t resist this little gem of a folk song. I don’t have a translation of the lyrics, but Gorée is a Senegalese island which for hundreds of years was perhaps the largest center of the slave trade. I imagine this song is dedicated to the thousands who suffered in that place. The melody is infectious, and N’Dour’s singing is, as always ridiculously gorgeous. I especially like the last third of the song, when a second, lower voice contributes harmony.

Celia Cruz and Tito Puente – “Elegua” 1970 from Alma Con Alma. Celia Cruz was one of the most amazing singers who ever lived. She was always immediately recognizable, always belting out with a full-throated alto, always ready to make the listener want to move. Tito Puente was a formidable percussionist who played salsa, jazz, and other Latin music with panache for decades. They teamed up for this wonderful album which features this unusual song. It’s an African chant with call and response vocals from Cruz and a couple of male singers. Puente is playing one of several percussion instruments on the track – shaker, congas, and cowbell are prominent. There are no other instruments. “Elegua” seems, according to Google, to be a Yoruban word, but I can’t get a translation. So, I have no idea what the song is about, but I know it’s intoxicating. After a minute or so, my brain starts focusing on the subtle changes in the percussion. What seems at first to be a fixed pattern is shifting without losing the groove. A great change of pace from two masters.