Mr Hudson & The Library - One Specific Thing

I got halfway through writing a blurb for a Primal Scream song before deciding I wanted to hear the new album first, so I picked up the next thing I saw on my (newly re-alphabetised) CD shelf. In case you were wondering, it was safely tucked between Motörhead and the Murder City Devils, and since it’s far too sunny outside to be writing about speed-gobbling hard rockers or bespectacled borderline goth-punks, it’s quite lucky that I landed on Mr Hudson & The Library’s A Tale of Two Cities instead.

I first saw Mr Hudson supporting Amy Winehouse in Liverpool. It was December, it was freezing cold, and I could have cared less about an opening act I’d heard nothing about. I’d read their name on the way in, hadn’t recognised it and was basically hoping they wouldn’t play for too long. The band wandered on and I wasn’t particularly encouraged by the look of the singer; a sparkle-studded belt buckle telling us he was “Mr. H” and a trilby tilted at an angle that could only be described as jaunty. But then they started playing “One Specific Thing” and I stopped being a judgemental bell-end and became a fan instead.

The song starts with guitar, piano and steel drum all picking out the same little riff, pricking up your ears for just a few seconds before the drums and bass kick in and you realise that the little riff isn’t little at all, that it sounds completely huge and amazing with a beat behind it. It’s sort of ska sounding; danceable, irresistible like the horns in “A Message to You Rudy”. Live, the whole crowd started nodding along. You could literally see the band making friends within moments of starting to play.

Everything becomes swirly and indistinct as Mr Hudson calls percussionist/backing singer Joy Joseph by name to sing the chorus. The riff disappears, the drums drop out, then come back in as everything builds to a climax, keeping the same beat, reminding you that the stomping, lurching hook from the beginning is going to come back at just the right moment. And then it does, all the swirl and noise and skipping piano and vocals disappear and it’s just brilliant. For the last 10 seconds it’s back to guitar, piano, steel drum, stomping along, then stopping dead and waiting for your reaction. Live, this was the cue for a crowd full of impatient Amy Winehouse fans to give Mr Hudson and co. an enormous roar of applause. The rest of their set was brilliant, the band obviously having the time of their lives. It was great to see them win over a crowd so completely.

Amy Winehouse was amazing that night, one of the best gigs I’ve ever seen, which was made better by the little band I’d never heard of and still listen to whenever it’s sunny.To be honest, the song is not quite as good on record as it is live, but still well worth listening to, and I defy anyone to hear the first minute or so without wanting to dance at least a little bit.

Mp3 - Mr Hudson & The Library - One Specific Thing

YouTube - Mr Hudson being ace on Jools Holland

Live performance of "One Specific Thing"

PS - Muxtape is down due to "problems with the RIAA", which sounds pretty ominous. Hopefully it will reappear but for now it's just the above link if you want to hear the song...

Bo Diddley - Pretty Thing

On the wall above my desk are a load of posters, pictures, and magazine cut-outs of people from music. The only thing that really links them is that they’re all my heroes; the people I would probably be too scared to talk to if I ever met them. A lot of them will probably make appearances on this blog at some point. Bo Diddley is up there, and since he passed away on June 2^nd 2008 I have been listening to him more than ever.

I could have put up any of a dozen Bo Diddley tracks but I picked “Pretty Thing” because it’s everything I love about him. The drums and maracas, the chug, the rhythm, that famous Bo Diddley shave-and-a-haircut beat thumping away. It’s tribal, no cymbals required. Then Bo’s guitar digging in with the rhythm, almost like more percussion. What his strum hand is doing is far more important than his fret hand, and when he lets it go around a minute in, there’s nothing better. As I sit typing this I’m listening to the awesome chug of “Pretty Thing” on repeat.

Like Rick Froberg of Hot Snakes, Bo is another underrated lyricist. His words are so simple you might just let them drift past with a lot of other traditional rock ‘n’ roll stuff. But the best thing about them is that they’re fun, really fun. He trades insults with his band in “Say Man”, pretends to be a cowboy in “Gun Slinger” and claims to have ‘a cobra snake for a necktie’ in “Who Do You Love”, casting himself as the ultimate badass motherfucker. Fun is way undervalued in rock, and when it’s combined with the lowdown tubthumpery of Bo’s music, it becomes irresistible.

Bo Diddley was an entertainer; he knew how to blow people away, especially on stage. His live Beach Party record is a perfect example. As far as I know this is only available on vinyl and pretty hard to get hold of, so I’m going to throw the mp3s up for anyone who wants it. The deadpan delivery of the “Roadrunner” story followed by the blinding version of the song at the end of the show puts the crowd in the palm of Bo’s hand. It’s one of the best live albums ever made and it’s free! Get it, get it, get it. Most of the stuff he released is worth buying, but if you pick one go for Bo Diddley Is A Gunslinger.

The mp3s:
Bo Diddley - Pretty Thing
Bo Diddley's Beach Party (Live Album)

If I wanted to convince people that Bo Diddley is the King, I should just have put the link to this video at the top of the post. Anyone who dances like that deserves a place in the hall of fame!

More:

Immense version of "Roadrunner" - Check out the dance moves in the audience!

Short clip of the chug

Old old TV Footage

P.S. - Click the Muxtape link at the top for streaming action...