Disconnected.
Dr. Hook is a band sorely in need of a critical career reassessment. While Lowell George and Gram Parsons continue to rightfully rake in recognition, the dudes of Hook are written off as novelty goofs- or worse, are completely ignored. They're playing a "Garden Party" of sorts in my town tonight. It's an excuse for me to initiate a new revisionist perspective on the '70s hit makers. Along with the Eagles, they were among the first bands to bring country music to rock radio. Unlike the early Eagles, however, Dr. Hook never took themselves too seriously. Loose and raw, their 1973 debut included great songs like Shel Silverstein's "Sylvia's Mother", the wooly Marie Lavaux and "Judy." I have no idea which original members are in the current incarnation of the touring band, but fans of Ryan Adams, Arcade Fire and Wilco should ignore the conventional wisdom and dare to dig into the Dr. Hook catalog.
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M.I.A. kept me out until 1:00 a.m. a couple nights ago. Here's my review of her show.
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While no further evidence confirming the brilliance of AC/DC's formula is necessary, Airborne's new hit "Too Much Too Young Too Fast" sounds incredible blaring out of car speakers.
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Oh man. The new Nas is surely the most important song of 2008. I've already had a few lively discussions about it. But for all the controversy, the craziest thing for me is the shout-out to the late Lucky Dube.
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As someone who will never get enough of people talking about their favorite albums, I love Amoeba's "What's In My Bag?" profiles. The episodes starring Subtitle and Keith Morris are particularly amusing.
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I posted a Muxtape of my favorite recent songs by Kansas City and Lawrence artists. It includes The Abracadabras, Tech N9ne, Fourth of July, OK Jones, Olympic Size, Mac Lethal, Reach, Approach, The Architects, Kristie Stremel, The New Tragedies and Deep Thinkers.
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Kansas City Click: Reach, Approach and Deep Thinkers- all featured on my Muxtape- perform at the Brick tonight.
The mighty BellRays visit the Riot Room Saturday.
A tribute to Grant McClennan and the Go-Betweens goes down Sunday at The Record Bar. As I've written previously in this space, I don't quite get why the Go-Betweens weren't as big as Fleetwood Mac. With tiny production tweaks, "Right Here" could be a hit for John Mayer or Sara Bareilles this summer.
6 comments:
I almost hate to say it, but Airborne sounds more like Cinderella than AC/DC to me.
Ray Sawyer probably will be there but it is unlikely that Dennis Locorriere will be part of the line up. Dennis plays mainly in the UK as 'the voice of Dr. Hook' and licences the name Dr Hook (he owns the trademark name)to Ray Sawyer. Anyway, let us know how it turns out.
You will not hear this sung this way. Not sure who will take the lead vocal on it.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bfeQd6AgsvI
http://www.dennislocorriere.com/
Bgo
you know what sounds even better coming out of car speakers? AC/DC. Yer right though, the similarity is undeniable.
I can hear that, AJ. You're right, of course, DLC. Still, I turn up 98.9 every time they play the song (which seems to be about every 90 minutes...)
I didn't know any of that, BGO. Thanks. Tim Finn covered the show
It is too bad Mr. Finn really missed the mark with his review of Dr. Hook. Ray Sawyer is NOT Dr. Hook as Tim implied. Dennis Locorriere sang their best songs and was a main guitarist in the band. Former member George Cummings (left the band in 1975) came up with the name on the spot for a gig because the club owner insisted as such. The rest is history. They made Shel some nice royalities. I once saw the original band and I can tell you that w/o Locorriere, it is just not the same.
And it is good to see Locorriere living happily in Sussex England and getting plenty of gigs.
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