Another Whiney Column

by Will 'The Cranky Music Man' Golightly

I'm once again on the trusty old laptop that my brother generously lent me. Unfortunately, it isn't as trusty as it once was. Add to that the joy of a phone that isn't working, and you get the recipe for one hell of a foul mood. So pardon me if this is a little snotty.

Radiohead can go to the nearest woodsy clearing and drop dead. Every goddamn one of them. It's bad enough that they put out a half-assed "experimental" (as in couldn't be bothered to write any songs or lyrics) album last year instead of a proper album of proper songs. I think they are still fighting the embarrassment of their first album, which was chock full of rock-by-numbers angsty moaning. So they made a huge hoopla about how there would be ABSOLUTELY no press or interviews or promotion or videos or singles for this current master-freakin'-piece. And I can tell they felt strongly about it, because they harped on and on about not doing any interviews or promotion in their cover stories in countless magazines like Spin and Q. Oh but that's not why they make an appearance this week. The reason they're rearing their silly heads in this column is because they have been bitching about not getting any airplay on Britain's Radio 1. It takes a big man to tell the world that he's not releasing any singles and then bitch that the radio isn't playing his songs. And what is the astute insight the zeitgeistiest band in the land made about radio? That its target demographic is young teens who aren't interested in "difficult" music.

And now for the bad news: James Carr is dead. The 1960's soul singer died of cancer last week at the age of 58. He was one of those rare cases in music-- the troubled non-genius. When touring Japan many years after his brief '60s heyday, he froze up on stage due to an overdose of anti-depressants. He once disappeared from a recording studio and eventually was found sitting silently on the roof. He had a few top ten hits on the R&B charts. If he had been more successful, perhaps he could have had the clout to change his name or spend three years in a sandbox like any other self-respecting loony recording artist. No such luck for Mr. Carr.

Though his recorded output is patchy, the undervalued Razor & Tie label issued The Essential James Carr six years ago. It collects the best of his work in from the '60s and has some hidden gems. Elvis Costello even used one of the tunes, Pouring Water On A Drowning Man, for his covers album Kojak Variety. The song that his entire reputation is based on, however, is Dark End Of The Street.

It has also been recorded by Percy Sledge, Linda Ronstadt, Gram Parsons-era Flying Burrito Brothers, Afghan Whigs (the greatest white soul band in the world, by the way), and the song's writer Dan Penn. There are certainly others, but I can't think of them right now. It is a soul standard, and one of those rare songs that cannot be ruined. Even by Linda Ronstadt. Carr's version was the first, and it is a mountain of a record. Maybe Radiohead should take a stab at it.

In the last month Kirsty MacColl, James Carr, and my grandfather have all passed away. Be sure to look both ways when crossing the street, gentle reader.