three obsessions

On my iPod, stereo and mind all this week and last are three songs, each of them utterly perfect and awaiting a download. They come from the Rakes, Medicine Head and the Gun Club.

01 The Rakes, “Little Superstitions” (Ten New Messages)

A fabulously small song, the vocals tight and self-aware “on the subject of [his] love life,” singing in the chorus of “choking on your heart,” a vague and odd phrase whose meaning somehow could not be more clear. The real key, though, is in that pre-chorus, how the song backs into this wistful jingle with some snare gallops and singer Alan Donahue wishing, “Let’s make the most of it/ The time we’ve got together/ Get all the secrets out,” that last line delivered hurriedly, like when you tell someone “I love you” and half-hope they don’t hear it just in case you don’t like the response. And then the guitar doubling his voice in that “choking” chorus, recalling the best Pavement ballads (thinking of “Easily Fooled” in particular) except there is no distance, no insincerity. It’s an incredibly precious and special song, one with a small direct goal — in the defense of a war he is losing — with little fat, just heart.

02 Medicine Head, “(And the) Pictures in the Sky” (New Bottles, Old Medicine)

Part T Rex, part Stones, another really tight tune, but very loose as well. There was a period in the early ’70s where all of the great rock bands worked hard on sounding loose. It’s not as easy a thing as you might think, and the acts who did it best (in my mind, the Band and whoever backed Rod Stewart on his first four solo records) (also the Stones, but they were just kind of a loose band, period) were really skilled musicians. I can’t vouch for any sort of dexterity on the part of the British duo Medicine Head, but this song is very freewheeling despite being anchored pretty damn tightly to a hard and steady gait — a snare beating like the telltale heart. I really adore the fact that the vocals are so poorly double-tracked (at times it almost sounds like a round), and then when the second verse kicks in we get the counter-beat and the very simple, bluesy guitar flourishes. It’s a song built light for movement. Not only could it easily fit into almost any great DJ set, “(And the) Pictures in the Sky” has an (unnecessary) parenthetical in the title! (Something I obviously love.)

03 The Gun Club, “The House on Highland Avenue” (Death Party

In search of more info on the Gun Club, I have come across the greatest bit of trivia I have ever read on All Music Guide. Discussing the life of rough-n-tumble Gun Club singer Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Greg Prato writes, “he also considered creating a new musical form, ‘Rapanese’ (which would have combined rap with the Japanese language).” I mean, aren’t you sold on this dude already?

I got into the Gun Club because of the Cramps, specifically because Kid Congo Powers was in both bands, and Calla’s singer/guitarist Aurelio Valle names Powers as his hero. Got all of that? This is completely irrelevant but bear with me.

Death Party is probably the worst Gun Club record. Least-great would be a better phrase to use. But it does have “The House on Highland Avenue,” a wonderful post-punk mini-epic. I’ve been struggling with exactly how to describe it, except to say that it sounds exactly the way that it should: it’s very self-contained, it always moves exactly where you want it to (”I’d love to hear some sort of big, male chorus shouting ‘there’s no fire in your glass eye’ right now… OH WAIT!”) and it’s a great song, through and through. The best advice I can give is to listen to the sample: you will get a taste of its greatness, plus you’ll get to hear Pierce’s voice, so pained and infinitely strong despite it. This one will be with me for a very, very long time.