What's Soriano Listening To...

Last time around was a bit heavy, so if you are still with us, time for something a bit light. We will stare at car crashes later. Right now, it’s time for a round of What Is Soriano Listening To?

Syd Barrett The Madcap Laughs. Like many people not old enough to experience early Pink Floyd in real time, I learned of Syd Barrett as a mad legend, an acid casualty who was also a brilliant musician and songwriter but no longer functional. So, when I first picked up a Barrett solo album in the late 1980s, I was primed for “crazy man” music. What I heard with my first needle drop wasn’t “crazy.” I heard odd pop music with great lyrics and intoxicating melodies. Since then, The Madcap Laughs and Barrett have been in permanent rotation. I picked up a cheap CD for the car and am back to repeated listens. I know this record well, but there’s still revelations. This time it’s Robert Wyatt’s fantastic drumming on “No Good Trying,” something I never paid attention to before, because who listens for drums on a Syd Barrett solo album? From now on, me!

Grateful Dead Wake of the Flood. Funny thing about punk rockers is that as much as they profess to hate the Dead, the deep music freaks among them eventually find their way to these guys. Usually, the entry point in on of the early psych albums. For me it was the laid back mid period which I stumbled into once I hit middle age, was fine with how subdued it is, and finally listened to Robert Hunter’s lyrics. It’s perfect Sacramento summer on the porch music.

Ray Campi The Rollin’ Rock Singles Collection. Italian rockabilly fan Ronny Weiser moved to the US and started Rollin’ Rock as a zine in the 1960s to document his obsession with early American rock & roll. Weiser then started a record label under the same name, hooked up with Ray Campi and started releasing singles that Ronny record on a four-track in his living room. The Campi singles are fantastic. All are stripped down, with killer guitar picking, great vocals, and enough primitivism to please fans of The Cramps first two singles.

Dinah Washington A Stranger on Earth. Don’t know why I ignored Dinah Washington so long. Maybe the name made me think she’d be a “classy” act like Dionne Warwick, which is fine, I like Dionne but am more drawn to lady singers who either get bluesy, smokey, or weird. Dinah gets bluesy (and smokey) but I didn’t know that until I threw on this album thinking, “Well, I guess I should acquaint myself with Dinah Washington.” Yes, Soriano, you should have done that years ago!

Sonora Santanera “Hoja Seca”. When most people think of Mexican music, it’s norteño, ranchera, and mariachi that comes to mind. Those most people should turn towards the Caribbean coast and check out Mexican “tropical music.” To do that start with Sonora Santanera, who have been blending cha cha, mambo, and Latin jazz since 1955. They released a ton of albums, many of them which repeat songs, a lot of them identified by the first song title (as above). Not everything is great, but the good ones are so good that the payoff is worth the digging.

Zapp mix cdr. A list of greatest funk masters is usually restricted to James Brown, Sly Stone, and George Clinton. If you want a modern entry, add Prince. If you want my take, add Roger Troutman and Rick James. You know Rick James by his name. Troutman you know as Zapp (or Roger). Both Troutman and James also produced many great records that are soaked with their sound. Troutman’s sound is seemingly simple, stripped down, fat, and funky. It’s made for the dance floor and its impact on hip hop is immense, especially early rap, where it is near impossible to escape the influence of Zapp, Kraftwerk, and James Brown.

Andy Shauf The Party. Canadian indie pop from 2016 which I’d never had listened to if it wasn’t in rotation at work. Infectious pop with odd vocals, all of which didn’t move me until it was played so many times that the ear worms took residency in my brain. Shauf steals from a lot of people (mostly Paul McCartney) but weaves it into his style while going on pretty impressive melodic runs.

Motorhead Overkill. The second best Motorhead album (after No Sleep…), the first best studio album. “Overkill,” “Stay Clean,” “Capricorn,” “Metropolis,” “No Class,” “Tear Ya Down” … this is a cornucopia of rad.

The Clash London Calling. I waited in line for Tower Records on Watt Ave to open to buy London Calling on the day it came out. When I got home and dropped needle, I was shocked how unlike The Clash’s first album this was. Still the title cut was punk enough to hook me. What followed was pure magic. I’d never heard (and still haven’t) a rock & roll album so complete, so in tune with itself, so full of imagination and challenges while still being a rock & roll record. Everything about this record is perfect, including ending it with a vicious pop song that goes untitled on the original release. The performances, songwriting, and production are stellar, and the lyrics are still awesome and relevant. Example:

Taking off his turban, they said, is this man a Jew?

'Cause working for the clampdown

They put up a poster saying we earn more than you

When we're working for the clampdown

We will teach our twisted speech

To the young believers

We will train our blue-eyed men

To be young believers

The judge said five to ten but I say double that again

I'm not working for the clampdown

No man born with a living soul

Can be working for the clampdown

Kick over the wall 'cause governments to fall

How can you refuse it?

Let fury have the hour, anger can be power

Do you know that you can use it?

The voices in your head are calling

Stop wasting your time, there's nothing coming

Only a fool would think someone could save you

The men at the factory are old and cunning

You don't owe nothing, so boy, get running

It's the best years of your life they want to steal

But you grow up and you calm down

And you're working for the clampdown

You start wearing the blue and brown

And you're working for the clampdown

So, you got someone to boss around

It makes you feel big now

You drift until you brutalize

Doesn't make you first kill now

In these days of evil presidentes

Working for the clampdown

But lately one or two has fully paid their due

For working for the clampdown

Not only is London Calling an unrelenting piece of anti-fascist “art,” it is the best rock & roll album ever made, so says I, and it makes me want to fight back.

That’s it. Next time we will do politics.