5 Songs July 12, 2024

I think this is a particularly good batch

Johnny Osbourne – “Them a Terrorist” 1989 single available on Mr. Budy Bye under the title “Terrorist.” You can also find this as a single named “Dem a Terrorist.” Johnny Osbourne is one of the biggest reggae stars in Jamaican history, and he slid right through the transition from rootsier material to dance hall back in the 80s. This song is solidly in the dance hall style, as Osbourne sort of sings and sort of toasts his way through a rapid fire dismissal of terrorism in the world. It’s not exactly a controversial protest, but hey, he sounds convincing as he chants “Your downfall is gonna be a big mess.” I honestly don’t remember the US – Libya showdown he's singing about here, but I believe a plane was probably shot down. I love the high-stepping riddim track here, with the jaunty keyboard hook and that 80s syn-drum sound. It might be the subject matter that makes this song less remembered than many of his hits, but It is effective in its earnest recital combined with dance pleasures.

The Cars – “Good Times Roll” 1978 from The Cars. 1978 was the year I discovered punk rock and New Wave, and with the zeal of a new convert, I immediately began to wait for confirmation in the pop charts. Those days felt like a war, and every time Journey or Kansas was played on the radiowwas like taking a bullet. But then one day, the Cars broke through the playlist lines with “Just What I Needed.” It felt inevitable that we would win the conflict. “Good Times Roll” is the first song on their album and the third of a spectacular run of hit singles. With the clipped guitar/bass/drums parts and the searing keyboard sounds, it sounded like nothing else on the radio. It was easy to hear its alliance with the New Wave bands of the time, even if it was much more slickly produced by Roy Thomas Baker and filled with glorious (to my older ears) overdubbed harmonies. This record, which seemed to herald the future, has never aged in my estimation. It still thrills every single time I hear it.

Santana – “Soul Sacrifice” 1969 from Santana. I fell in love with this tune on the Woodstock soundtrack. (Aside: I never saw the Woodstock film until last year – I remember going to the Esquire Theater when I was 12 to see Return of the Blob and walking by another screen there which was showing Woodstock, which was titillating because I had heard there was nudity – anyway, in about 1977, I bought the soundtrack, and for a while there I was enamored with a lot of the music on it.) The studio version is tighter, if maybe a little less explosive. It’s a tour de force of Latin-rock rhythms, with two percussionists and Michael Shrieve’s thunderous drums underpinning the call and response between Carlos Santana on guitar and Gregg Rolie on organ. (Another aside: how did Rolie go from being an indispensable member of a band I loved to a key figure in a band I hate?) That overwhelming riff they play together, with Shrieve’s tom toms bursting in between licks, remains one of my all-time favorite things. Santana’s tone is like the cosmos opening up, while Rolie’s organ sounds like the earthiest, grittiest thing in the world. Simply stupendous the way they complemented each other.

Curtis Mayfield – “Summer Hot” 1983 from Honesty. Not only had I never heard this song before, I’m not remembering ever seeing the album from which it comes. Less than a year after I met the man and shook his hand, Curtis Mayfield released this attempt at fitting in with contemporary r&b trends. This song has no signature Mayfield guitar – it’s all synthesizer chords, synth bass, loud hard synthesized claps, and horns. But it’s very clearly a Mayfield song. The groove never lets up, but there is a weird asynchronous feel to the way the synths and horns utilize the Doppler effect. Mayfield himself overdubs two vocal tracks which are not quite lined up. His trademark falsetto is there in one, and his lower register sings the other, and they never feel completely connected. The song celebrates summer happenings, right down to the food for a backyard barbecue. The effects I described above don’t take anything away from this theme, but they do make the record feel special.

Loretta Lynn – “It’ll Be Open Season On You” 1971 from Coal Miner’s Daughter. One of the more obvious pieces of evidence for the existence of the patriarchy is the way women can never win a love triangle in popular music. If a man is singing, and his woman has been approached by another man, he blames her. If a woman is singing, and her man is approached by another woman, she blames her. This trope gets on my nerves every time, but that doesn’t mean I can’t love many records that contain it. This ultra-modern (for 1971) country sound, with its revved-up fuzzed-out guitars, speedy rhythm, and old-fashioned gospel harmonies behind Lynn’s pistol-packin’ vocal, is a joy to hear. Lynn was at the peak of her powers with this album – the title track you know even if you don’t know it, since it was the name of her autobiography and a film about her. This song, by the way, was written by a man, one Charlie Aldridge – he’s not even famous enough to rate a Wikipedia page.