5 Songs Friday, Jan. 3, 2025

I wonder what percentage of readers have heard of some of these before

Geraint Watkins – “Middle of the Night” 2019 from Rush of Blood. Chances are you’ve heard Geraint Watkins without knowing his name – I saw him play keyboards with Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe at different times, and he’s worked with the likes of Van Morrison and Eric Clapton in his long career as a session man. He’s been putting out his own music for decades, too, but somehow I never encountered it until now. “Middle of the Night” surprises me – it doesn’t have any of the pub rock feel I always associated him with. Instead, it’s kind of a roots rock Ian Curtis vibe, or maybe a song that Orville Peck ought to put into his back pocket. “In the middle of the night I make believe I hold you tight and the pain is over,” he gasps as the drums shuffle behind him and the acoustic rhythm guitar flies around him. It’s catchy and a little mysterious, and I’m still wondering where is the rock he’s standing on, and who is Johnny who stood there before him?

Wire – “Point of Collapse” 1987 from The Ideal Copy. Wire hadn’t released an album in eight years – they hadn’t even been a band for six of those years. But here they were, with their fourth distinctive sound in four LPs. Like many younger Brits, the members of Wire had bought synthesizers and sequencers, and they went all in on the possibilities. Unlike most younger Brits, they stuck to the playful experimentation that had been featured on their guitar-centric earlier records. “Point of Collapse” is the first song on this album. It’s got some of the melancholy melodic style of New Order, but that’s definitely Colin Newman’s more mellifluous vocals. The lyrics jump around, like a William Burroughs cut-up or an art film montage. There’s always a sense of unease, of disaster around the corner, of distrust and disguise. It’s pretty hard to resist the allure of this record.

Werly Fairburn – “Prison Cell of Love” 1954 available on Rockabilly Hall of Fame. Hands up if you’re familiar with Werly Fairburn, one of the best-named country and rockabilly singers of all time. If he’s remembered at all today, it’s by the hardcore rockabilly cats who used to come along every generation and pick up on the old style. “Prison Cell of Love” predates Elvis Presley, though, and has a lot more in common with Hank Williams or Lefty Frizell. It’s a honky tonk song built on playful metaphors about the way love takes away freedom, but of course, he wouldn’t have it any other way. Some nice fiddle and pedal steel solos and fills here, but the most modern part of the record comes about halfway through with an electric guitar solo that shares nothing with jazz or pop or r&b styles utilizing the instrument before this. The whole thing lasts just over 2 minutes, and you might find you’ll want to hear it again.

Lee Hooker – “Morning Blues” 1948 or 49, available on Burning Hell. Hooker’s early recordings aren’t often high fidelity, but they are often high quality. This mournful lament is sung in more complex approach than he would settle into later, with his electric guitar interjections showcasing all the pain and loneliness and intention to push through the lyrics only hint at. As so often with Hooker, you’ll go crazy if you try to count the beats, but you’ll feel the constantly shifting groove nonetheless. Hooker’s vocal plays with the beats as much as his guitar does, though his foot stays reasonably steady throughout. It’s far from the most famous Hooker record, but it’s intense enough to deserve more attention.

Ike & Tina Turner – “Nutbush City Limits” 1973 from Nutbush City Limits. Tina Turner wrote this one (along with four other songs on this album – she wasn’t usually that prolific). It’s about her hometown of Nutbush, Tennessee, a small place where there’s “A church house, gin house / A schoolhouse, outhouse.” As usual, she sings the heck out of it, with none of that nice and easy stuff here, just all rough. It’s never been substantiated either way, but Marc Bolan of T. Rex may have played one of the guitars here. If not, it’s definitely in that spirit. This record is a blend of glam rock, Exile on Main Street vibes, and funk. Ike had obviously fallen in love with his new-fangled Moog synthesizer, too – the solo he puts in here is a perfect use of its pitch-bending capabilities. One of the very best records of Tina Turner’s career!