My Merrily Mirthful Melodic Melange -- Myriad Musical Miscellania

Interesting. Kind of makes me think of what Harry Chapin or Billy Joel would have sounded like if they had been born 20 years earlier. Talented guy.

Super obscure "sunshine psych" (I think I just invented that term) from 1969, the only album from a duo made up of, as you might guess, two guys named Richard. Baroque folk-pop sorta reminiscent of our beloved Hackamore Brick, but with harmony vocals (including double-tracked lead) and much more elaborate arrangements.


Richard Twice - "If I Knew You Were the One"

Richard Twice - "The Finest Poet"

Mavis Staples - "Hard Times Come Again No More"

quote:

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"Hard Times Come Again No More," (sometimes, "Hard Times") is a parlor song by Stephen Foster. It was published in New York by Firth, Pond & Co. in 1854 as Foster's Melodies No. 28.

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quote:

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Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears,
While we all sup sorrow with the poor;
There's a song that will linger forever in our ears;
Oh hard times come again no more.

Chorus:
Tis the song, the sigh of the weary,
Hard Times, hard times, come again no more
Many days you have lingered around my cabin door;
Oh hard times come again no more.

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The Hudson Brothers - "So You are a Star" (1974)

The Hudson Brothers were sort a '70s ripoff of The Monkees (yes, I see the irony) who tried to combine a music career with a goofy TV variety show -- a career path more successfully followed, at least as far as a long TV run is concerned, a few years later by Sha Na Na.



[One of them (does it matter who?) married Goldie Hawn and is the father of Kate Hudson]

I was in single digits when the TV show aired and only very, very vaguely recall it. I don't remember their records at all.

I discovered the posted song many years later. It reminds me of The Raspberries, though the boys from Cleveland would've used some jangly guitars and a less MOR arrangement.

There is a new feature film documentary on the great band Big Star, who rival Badfinger and Moby Grape in the hard luck sweepstakes.



NY Daily News

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The musical equivalent of a secret handshake, Big Star has been the ultimate cult band for decades, inspiring countless fans and fellow artists to worship at the Lennon and McCartney-esque altar of co-founders Alex Chilton and Chris Bell.

Most of those admirers — led by the likes of the Replacements, R.E.M. and Wilco — have inevitably wondered why these brilliant Memphis musicians never achieved the ironic ambitions of their name. Though their debut album, wryly titled “#1 Record,” is now acknowledged as a timeless masterpiece, it was so mishandled upon its 1972 release that hardly anyone even knew it existed. Things didn’t get much better from there.

They are, in other words, an ideal documentary subject. And it seems like a bittersweet inevitability that even a celebration as reverential as this one is suffused with such aching poignancy.

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Alex Chilton, Jody Stephens, Chris Bell and Andy Hummel in “Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me”



Rolling Stone (includes film clip)

NPR

NY Times

Another artist that doesn't fit any particular musical style:

Lisa Germano - Reptile

quote:

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Phil Baugh was a country badass, plain and simple. Other than sporting some major, low-down twang-ability, he flaunted wicked chops that could make Jimmy Bryant or Joe Maphis blush. Baugh’s signature tune, “Country Guitar,” featured the California native reeling off impressions of 6-string giants such as Les Paul, Merle Travis, Luther Perkins, Duane Eddy, Hank Garland, and others. Impressive? You betcha. But that’s not the whole story. Baugh’s playing exuded joy and humor—two traits seriously lacking in hot country guitar these days. Whether he was aping a banjo and a saxophone on “One Man Band,” or playing it straight behind Vern Stovall’s honky-tonkin’ vocals on “Good Times,” Baugh (who passed away in 1990 at the age of 53) is a serious study for anyone interested in country guitar that oozes style and attitude. -- Sundazed

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Phil Baugh - "Country Guitar" (1964)

Kafka = swag