Angels of Light - "I Pity the Poor Immigrant"

 

Almost three years ago, Miles Seaton, a founding member of Akron/Family, died in a car accident.  I learned of Akron/Family, one of the coolest bands you've never heard of, from Butch Lazorchak during one of our many musical exchanges.  I struggle to define Akron/Family, but imagine Tortoise and other post-rock bands, channeling 1967-era Brian Wilson.  

My favorite LP of theirs is the "Akron/Family & Angels of Light".  The story behind this LP is a little complicated: it's a split LP, ostensibly between two bands: Akron/Family and Angels of Light, but Akron/Family plays on all the Angels of Light tracks.  

Angels of Light is the neofolk persona of Michael Gira, founder of the noise rock band The Swans.  I'm a big fan of The Swans and have several of their LPs, but did not know about Angels of Light until Butch turned me onto them.  Michael Gira runs his own record label, Young God Records, and was the first to sign and promote Akron/Family, with Akron/Family serving as the backing band for many Angels of Lights releases.  

The full LP deserves its own review (see the Pitchfork review: "...Gira's fatherly measuredness is a nice foil to Akron's hyperkinetic mini-opera..."), but for the moment I'll just spotlight their cover of Bob Dylan's "I Pity the Poor Immigrant", from his 1967 LP "John Wesley Harding".  I'm a sucker for obscure Dylan covers, as well as Gira's drawling baritone.  

For the moment, Akron/Family is defunct, and Seaton's death might keep it that way.  Fortunately, they left a significant discography to explore.  

Angels of Light (with Akron/Family) - "I Pity the Poor Immigrant"

Bob Dylan - "I Pity the Poor Immigrant" (live 1976, with Joan Baez)

I pity the poor immigrant
Whose strength is spent in vain
Whose heaven is like ironsides
Whose tears are like rain
And who eats but is not satisfied
Who hears but does not see
Who falls in love with wealth itself
And turns his back on me

 

The Boomtown Rats - "Rat Trap"

 

Garry Roberts, the lead guitarist and co-founder of The Boomtown Rats, died just over a year ago.  The Boomtown Rats were never really big in the US, but I recall a couple of their videos from the early days of MTV.  Their biggest hit, in the US anyway, was "I Don't Like Mondays", which is a fine song.  

But I'd rather remember Roberts & company for their 1978 single "Rat Trap", from their second LP "A Tonic for the Troops".  "Rat Trap" is credited as the first "punk / new wave" single to hit #1 on the UK singles chart.  Which is of note, but is it really punk / new wave?  To my ear, this sounds like it would be at home on Bruce Springsteen's 1975 LP "Born to Run".  I don't even mean that as a criticism, just an observation that saxophone, the storytelling, the song length -- this doesn't sound remotely "new wave" to me, much less "punk".  

Regardless, it's a great song, and Garry Roberts was an instrumental part of the band construction and sound.  The US audience is more familiar with frontman Bob Geldof, from his role in Live Aid, and playing the role of "Pink" the movie "Pink Floyd -- The Wall".  

The Boomtown Rats - "Rat Trap" (Live Aid, 1985-07-13)

Bonus link - "I Don't Like Mondays" 

The Pogues - Live at the Town and Country Club (1988-03-17)

 

Shane MacGowan, best known as the frontman for The Pogues, died a few weeks ago.  If you know anything about Shane MacGowan, you're probably surprised he made it to 65.  

I first learned of The Pogues in my final year of college, courtesy of my roommates (I can't recall if it was Jason, Frey, or Terry -- perhaps all of them).  With their (then) unique blend of Irish folk and punk, their LPs were in heavy rotation at our house on Wharton Street.  Only later in life was I able to understand what they were doing as an Irish/UK equivalent of what, for example, the Violent Femmes were doing in the US.  

To mark Shane's passing, I turn to their 1988 video release, "Live at The Town & Country Club London 1988", of a St. Patrick's Day concert, featuring collaborations with Joe Strummer, Steve Earle, Kirsty MacColl, Lynval Golding, and others.  The video was edited down to about an hour, but the setlist for the full concert makes me hopeful that and extended release could happen in the future.   

Aside from an occasional reunion, The Pogues haven't been active since 2014.  But in 1988, just a year or two before my discovery of them, The Pogues were at their height.  

MacColl (2000), Stummer (2002), guitarist Philip Chevron (2013), bassist Daryl Hunt (2022), and now MacGowan (2023) -- all featured in the 1988 video -- have sadly all passed.  This single concert may be the greatest collection of artists you've never (or barely) heard of. 

You were handsome
You were pretty
Queen of New York City
When the band finished playing
They howled out for more
Sinatra was swinging
All the drunks they were singing
We kissed on a corner
Then danced through the night