Musical palate cleanser, shut your mouth edition

Bad.  Ass.

As one of the YouTube commenters posted,“Best wah-wah pedal intro to a song. Ever. No Arguments Allowed.”

I’m not arguing.

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Musical palate cleanser, people are the greatest fun edition

Just finished watching Russian Doll on Netflix and the final scene is set to a song I hadn’t listened to in ages.

That’s Love’s “Alone Again Or”.  Always cool to come across a forgotten favorite like that.

Here’s a live version Arthur Lee performed 35 years after the song’s release.

I’ve always enjoyed Calexico’s cover of the song, with its Southwestern tinge.

Musical palate cleanser, Maceo, blow your horn edition

I keep saying it, but Prince’s guitar work was the most underrated part of his game.  Here he is, channeling his inner-Jimi with a live version of “Red House”.  Oh yeah, he’s accompanied by Maceo Parker.

Musical palate cleanser, count the rings around my eyes edition

“How young are you? How old am I?”

This song is 35 years old.  It’s also effing brilliant.

We interrupt this football blog for the following message.

I… uh… don’t know what to think about this.

Can’t be living in the past, man. Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/zL2CLYhGAM

— Jeff Bridges (@TheJeffBridges) January 24, 2019

The Dude abides!

Musical palate cleanser, ah-woo-oooh edition

Howlin’ Wolf.  “Smokestack Lightning”.  Live.

Musical palate cleanser, gritty King edition

We haven’t had Elvis Presley grace GTP with his presence in quite a while, so I thought I’d share my favorite obscurity of his.  It’s from a bootleg album.

One on my favorite Elvis albums, even though it’s a bootleg, is Cut Me & I Bleed released on Double G Records. The album is a collection of alternate studio, home, and live rehearsal recordings that present “another side” of Elvis. Pedestal removed, Cut Me & I Bleed chooses to present “The King” in a raw, more human, and often explicit manner, one that often eschews the family friendly image constructed by the Elvis foundation.

Of all the tracks (22 in all), the real gem of the bunch, and a personal favorite, is Presley’s stripped down rendition of Percy Mayfield’s “Stranger in My Own Home Town” (studio rehearsal version, July 24, 1970). I can’t think of a more appropriate song for Elvis to cover at this time in his life. Set amongst friends in a rehearsal jam session, Elvis gives one of the rawest, grittiest, yet honest and soulful performances I’ve ever heard from him.

It’s an extended blues riff and the King gets a little dirty with the lyrics here and there, but it’s both stripped down and heartfelt as hell.  See what you think.