The Peasant went to Barney's and he's looking good: Everything Underrated
Submitted by jgandcag on Thu, 07/10/2003 - 09:29
Tags:
- Classic Rock Band J Geils Band The poor man's Rolling Stones or a boogie blues bar band. Heck, you can give them any moniker you wish but what they were in their heyday was one of the greatest party bands to ever lay down a smoking groove. I challenge anyone to put on almost any of their albums and not have their toes tapping or their hips shaking within the first ten minutes. They were also one of the greatest live bands I ever saw. To anyone who saw them in the late 70's, this goes without saying. To those who didn't, you are just going to have to trust me on this one.
- Classic Rock Male Singer Rod Stewart After many years of bastardizing other great songs, like Dylan's Forever Young, Tom Waits Downtown Train and Curtis Mayfield's People Get Ready and spewing out other dreck like Human Touch and The Motown Song it is easy to dismiss Rod "the not so great bod anymore" as a bloated example of eveything that is wrong with music today. I am not even going to try to disagree with that thesis. What that does though is dismiss what could easily be argued was the four most profilic and greatest years any artist has ever had in the history of Rock and Roll. In that time he put out five great albums as a solo artist, including his masterpeice "Every Picture Tells a Story". Also, During this same time frame he was the lead singer for three great albums from another underrated band known as The Faces. 8 great albums buys Rod a lot of good will in my book.
- Modern Actress Marisa Tomei I have been as guilty as anyone in underrating Tomei. I found her performance in My Cousin Vinny a little too one note and more than a little annoying so I pretty much dismissed her as an actress. However, since then she has been the best thing in some mediocre movies like Someone Like You and Welcome to Sarajevo and truly inspiring in movies like Happy Accidents and In The Bedroom. Plus she was able to more than hold her own with megapersonalities Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson in Anger Management. Its nice to admit when you are wrong and Tomei makes that easy for me. Perhaps I should give some others the benefit of the doubt. Maybe I will have to watch Sweet November to see if Charlize Theron can actually act...mmm..nah I don't think so.
Author Comments:
Im Feeling good today, So I thought I would start a counterpart to my overrated list to share the love.
:)
Rod Stewart was brilliant, and as somebody who was unfortunate enough to first encounter him through the music during his decline (and I made many jokes at his expense), I especially was shocked to find that out. Every Picture Tells a Story sounds better to me every time I spin it. Nobody has pissed away such talent, but the remains of his great period are incredibly impressive. And he could sing the heck out of a song when he wanted to.
Great list. J Geils were also a great band. Did you dig Brinsley Schwarz?
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Brinsley Scwartz :) Nick Lowe has always been a huge favorite and this is of course where it all started. That is one band I wish I had seen live.
I did see Rockpile in a small club in the early eighties.
Every Picture...gets most of the well deserved praise for Stewart but I tell you everyone of those albums was damn good music. Gasoline Alley and Never A Dull Moment are almost as good. Plus The Faces A Nod is Good as a Wink... is also a great album.
YOU SAW ROCKPILE LIVE!?!?!?!?
You, my friend, have made me very jealous many times, but I think you just turned me several shades greener than you ever have before. You bum!!!
Gee, in a small club to boot!
How were they?
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I saw Rockpile live at either the Paradise club or the Music House. I can't remember when or where exactly. It was a good show but it was about the time their album came out and they played every thing off the album. I always like when Bands or performers branch out by doing other people's music. I figured Edmunds and Lowe had some geat old R and B tunes they would play.. I did see Edmunds one time and that was a great show as the music was all over the place. He is another performer that could find himself on this list somewhere.
I couldn't agree with you more. Especially the J. Geils Band. I was fortunate enough to see them 3 times in Detroit ('79, '80 and '82) and they were without doubt one of the best live bands of their time. I might go so far as to list them right behind Springsteen. I still follow Peter Wolf and Magic Dick to this day.
Rod Stewart always wore a little too much Spandex for my taste, but you hit the nail on the head recommending his early solo work. Although some may say it takes an acquired taste to enjoy his earliest work with Jeff Beck, it might be worth a mention for the youngsters.
I'm looking forward to additions.
Stump. I would have to agree with your assessment about Springsteen being number 1 and Geils #2 for live shows. Well at least in big venues.
I think I saw Geils four or five straight summers in the old Cape Cod Coliseum back in the late 70's. The old buiding had no air conditioning and the heat was unbelievable. Of course it sort of helped to get the booze out of your system by sweating it out..
I really liked Wolf's last two solo albums, especially Sleepless(?). I thought I saw Magic Dick and J Geils were doing some local gigs playing more traditional blues. I remember thinking I would like to catch a show but as always seems to happen lately something else came up.
jgandcag - Inspired by this list, I decided to download a J. Geils Band song or two. I picked the ones on Kazaa that had the most users. Upon listening to them, I was quite surprised. The first one, "Centerfold", was one I had heard before and loved, but never knew the name of in order to download it. The other one, "Love Stinks", was another song I had heard before and loved (though less than "Centerfold"). I might have to pick up a J. Geils Band album... but which? I know your favorite is Monkey Island, but Freeze Frame has that great "Centerfold", not to mention the awesome song "Freeze Frame", which I had heard before but never realized it was by J. Geils Band once again. So maybe the reason they're underrated is because no one realizes they're behind all these great songs.
Anyway, the next time I cross an album off my "50 Albums" list, I'll add a J. Geils Band album. Just not quite sure which one yet.
Since I have not really posted very much lately. And because I hate when someone does not reply to a message of mine. I thought I would try to rectify two wrongs in one fell swoop. Basically I will try to answer some hanging comments on my lists.
AJ, Centerfold and Love Stinks are often considered the nadir of Geils output. The Love Stinks and Freeze Frame albums were their biggest commercial success but many true Geils fans think they sold their soul for the success. Of course some of the band memebers may have agreed since they broke up the band soon after that success.
If you are looking for a really good Geils album I would suggest their live album Blow Your face Out or their studio albums Monkey Island or Sanctuary.
The Live album is probably the safest choice.
Well I think the songs are at least intended to be accessible, which probably explains why they appealed to me, someone unfamiliar with the J. Geils Band. But yeah, I've given up on those two albums - on my "50 Albums" list, I have replaced Freeze Frame with Monkey Island.
To no one in particular - a piece of trivia: For "Monkey Island" the J. Geils Band dropped the J. from their name and became just "Geils". It returned on the next album.