Joey Kneiser's band Glossary are one of the few current bands which I completely adore but nobody else seems to have heard of. I'm not sure why that should be, since lesser lights cut from not dissimilar cloth seem to have no trouble becoming critical and hipster darlings, but none of them rock my world the way Glossary does. Their record How We Handle Our Midnights helped me through the lousiest period of my adult life, and not just because it was there; Kneiser's songs seemed to be written in the only language appropriate for those wasted days. I've been devoted ever since. I guess Joey is kind of Paul Westerberg now, since somebody has to do it; there's a certain melody to which he returns again and again, and yet I never tire of it. It's probably the basic melody to which I was attuned at birth.Anyway, this beautiful tune from his recent (free!) solo album The All-Night Bedroom Revival-- which again seems completely to speak to the question of why the hell anyone would do what I'm doing right now on this blog-- might've been a fun thing to turn into a big rock number or otherwise mutate, but because I'm unusually evangelistic for this artist, I've done a pretty faithful rendition, reasoning that if anyone follows up on Kneiser or Glossary on the basis of this recording, they're not going to want to hear something radically different. I have on the whole not a whole lot of evidence that anyone follows my recommendations, and I usually do not attempt to "convert" anyone to my favorite artists... and I actually have no clue how many people even listen to these recordings, but this was an instance in which I felt obliged to dress up and try to be presentable.
There was one word I couldn't quite make out; I sang "resonance", but it sounds like "Residents", which changes the meaning of the line rather severely.
Personnel: Rex
Hey, check out my new comedy gig: You know who covered this song? Tiger Woods - It's true. Only he changed the title to "I Put it in the Hole of Everyone."
ReplyDeleteHa. Thank you, folks - I'll be here all week. Tip the veal special - the waitress is delicious.
Dude, in about five days it kinda goes to hell and I actually sing stuff that's even more groaner-y than that. Just look out for a noted smoove country singer/roast chicken maven and you're on the verge of some juvenilia, is all I'm gonna say.
ReplyDeleteGreat job, Rex! I feel proud, however undeservedly, since I'm the one that got you into Glossary lo those many years ago. I also posted a link to this at Glossary's FB page. They're on tour right now, but Todd Beene checks it pretty regularly.
ReplyDeleteYou oughta be proud. And specifically, too; you directed me to this solo release and I might not've found it otherwise.
ReplyDeleteSometimes... usually, really, these are much more intimidating than covering "standards" or catalog tune from super-well-known artists. One assumes Dylan could give a shit if someone does "Lay Lady Lay" again, but indeed on a song like this one the artist might indeed hear it, and it might be kind of weird for them, and, bottom line, they could well think it sucks, which would be a bummer when I like them as much as I like these guys. And I felt pretty damned emotional singing it.