The 333 Best Pop Songs of the 2000s: #234

#234: "Wilson Pickett" (2007) - Tim Krekel Orchestra



Today is Black Friday. What does that mean? Five a.m. trips to Wal-Mart or Best Buy or Toys r' Us? Now, you heatherens! Black Friday represents the day Jesus Christ died on the cross. Yeah, that's, uh, celebrated in April, but still, if someone's going to designate this day as Black Friday, then we should have to honor some dead person, and what better dead person than Wilson Pickett. Why him? 'Cause he was buried in my backyard. At least yesterday he was. This morning, before I brave the hordes of noxious shoppers at Wal-Mart, I'm going to visit that grave. Why? The same reason that Tim Krekel does. Who's Tim Krekel?

Tim Krekel's a Louisville, KY musician, and for years he's been playing an updated version of Myrtle Beach music, his own blue-eyed soul, and he's never played a more affecting and effective song than this one, where he walks outside and sees the Wilson Pickett funeral procession (which is not bad for a band name) in his back yard. Later, after the mourners have gone to shop for their early Christmas doorbuster sales, Krekel visits Pickett's grave, and he's filled with the Wicked One's spirit, and Krekel then lets that spirit infuse this humorous and (if you let your mind open to wander) deeply moving song, with a band (Krekel's so-called orchestra) that sounds as good--if not better--than the Memphis Horns or the Muscle Shoals musicians ever did, and one could actually imagine Pickett feeling right at home here, as this is his type of song.

So, if you're ever feeling down, or you've got those Black Friday blues, then just step out into your back yard, and visit Wilson Pickett's grave for a moment, and let Mr. Krekel, wit his stinging guitar fills (that sound just as vivifying as Duane Allman's did in Pickett's version of "Hey Jude") and his orchestra, with their soul-stirring harmonies, fill you with their sweet soul music. Don't fight it--just let the feeling wash right over you.


You can get that feeling now by listening to the song here.

Pigskin Prognosications, Week Thirteen

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Time to eat, so this'll be short and, uh, probably just short.

Titans 34, Lions 9 - Tennessee will knock the stuffing out of the Lions. Sorry. Had to say it.

Cowboys 31, Seahawks 10 - Dallas is dangerous again.

Cardinals 27, Eagles 17 - Philadelphia's dangerous now, too--to themselves, that is.

Bills 20, 49ers 14 - Which Trent Edwards will show up? Last week's, or the one from the week before? Probably, a bit of both.

Ravens 24, Bengals 10 - Baltimore's Joe Flacco is finally giving Baltimore something it has never had: an offense.

Buccaneers 28, Saints 20 - The Bucs will force Brees to bobble the ball, and the Bucs will gobble it up.

Giants 20, Redskins 13 - Giants will forget about the turkey; they'll eat clock instead, more than Washington will.

Dolphins 29, Rams 10 - Pennington and Brown will sleep restfully after they finish their veal by the time the first half is over.

Colts 21, Browns 6 - Cleveland's offense needs to be put back in the oven.

Packers17, Panthers 14 - Should be a good game. That's all I got. Forgive me; it's late.

Falcons 24, Chargers 23 - Fate laughs at San Diego, you know?

Jets 34, Broncos 13 - I feel pity for Jay Cutler.

Patriots 13, Steelers 10 - Steelers can't run anymore, and this week they're minus two corners.

Chiefs 19, Raiders 18 - C'mon, Kansas City, I'm rootin' for ya'! Thigpen's developed too well to have this many losses in one season.

Bears 21, Vikings 17 - Looking forward to this one, as both teams have their important players all healthy. Orton's a better QB than Frerotte is, so I'll give Chicago the nod.

Texans 24, Jaguars 12 - Does Jacksonville care anymore?

Fifth Down, Week Twelve

Shopping and cleaning kept me from posting this earlier. My earlier predictions are in italics.

Steelers, 27 Bengals 10 - Win. Steelers couldn't run the ball, but Cincinnatti could neither run nor pass. Picked this one perfectly. Actual score: Steelers 27, Bengals 10

Eagles 24, Ravens 21 - Loss. Westbrook's injury is hurting his team...almost as much as McNabb's play is. First time in his career he was benched for poor performance. It was pret-ty bad, too. Actual score: Ravens 36, Eagles 7

Browns 17, Texans 14 - Loss. Quinn really didn't throw the ball accurately this game. Benched. That Cleveland run D--and Shaun Rogers the major force behind it--should be getting more kudos. Actual score Texans 16, Browns 6

Buccaneers 24, Lions 21 - Win. The Lions were up 17-0 at one point in the first half. Then, Garcia stopped turning the ball over, and the Bucs went to town. Actual score: Buccaneers 38, Lions 20

Chiefs 28, Bills 20- Loss. Thigpen played a solid game until late, but this turkey was cooked before the first half was over. Isn't Herm Edwards a defensive specialist? What gives, KC? Your defense, that's what. Maybe I need to ask them to play Santa for my household this year. Actual score: Bills 54, Chiefs 31

Bears 30, Rams 12 - Win. Bulger in, Bulger out, it made no difference, 'cause their offensive line--and entire defense--is outmanned and outplayed nearly every game. Actual score: Bears 27, Rams 3

Titans 21, Jets 7- Loss. Jets' DT Kris Jenkins is a hoss, almost single-handedly stopping the Tennessee run game, which negated the effectiveness of the play-action, and Farve had a fantastic day, as did the entire Jets team. Actual score: Jets 34, Titans 13

Patriots 17, Dolphins 14 - Win.This one was a lot closer than the final score indicates, as Cassel and Pennington dueled evenly for three quarters, before the Dolphin dbs fell to the superior Patriot WRs. Actual score: Patriots 48, Dolphins 28

Vikings 21, Jaguars 18 - Win. Jacksonville has to have one of the most inept passing games in the NFL. Has to, 'cause Minnesota's dbs aren't that great. Actual score: Vikings 30, Jaguars 12

Cowboys 31, 49ers 14 - Win. Romo and TO looked like they were in '07 mid-season form, and when that happens, the 'boys are near impossible to beat. Actual score: Cowboys 35, 49ers: 22

Broncos 21, Raiders 8 - Loss. How bad is the Broncos defense? JaMarcus Russell attempted eleven passes, and the Raiders put up thirty-one points. That's how bad it is. Actual score: Raiders 31, Broncos 10

Panthers 21, Falcons 20 - Loss. Atlanta took Muhammed out of the game and forced Delhomme to work the underneath routes with Smith (they wouldn't let Smith deep), frustrating Delhomme into too many turnovers and too deep an early hole (they were down 17-0 at one point) to climb out of. Actual score: Falcons 45, Panthers 28

Giants 28, Cardinals 27 -Win. Kurt Warner still threw for over three-hundred yards, but Warner doesn't play on Arizona's special teams unit, and it was this unit that killed the Cards. Actual score: Giants 37, Cardinals 29

Redskins 20, Seahawks 10- Win. Today, Washington's offense will eat turkey, but last week, they ate clock. Actual score: Redskins 20, Seahawks 17

Colts 28, Chargers 15- Win. That goddess Fortuna I spoke of? She's got San Diego on her karmic wheel, and she's laughing as she spins. Actual score: Colts 23, Chargers 20

Packers 27, Saints 24 - Loss. The Packers arial attack isn't in the class of New Orleans'. Actual score: Saints 51, Packers 29

The 333 Best Pop Songs of the 2000s: #235

#235: "Next to Me" (2006) - The Subdudes

Today is Thanksgiving, and if you've no loved ones to visit nor a home to go to, then New Orleans' soul outfit The Subdudes invite you to spend your Thanksgiving with them, and in this song (with a beat swiped straight--and so apropro--from the Spinners' "I'll Be Around") of commitment, love, and reassurance, you can be sure their home is one you'll feel welcome. Once I've loaded up at my in-laws, I'm coming over there, so save some cranberry sauce.

The 333 Best Pop Songs of the 2000s: #236

#236: "Bible Black Starless Sky" (2006) - Andy Fairweather Low

Andy Fairweather Low: lead guitarist and vocalist for the mid-to-late '60s British pop band Amen Corner. In 1969, they split and he spent the next eleven years recording solo or with his band Fairweather, altogether garnering a three Top 10 hits (and they're great records, too) in the process of adding a little blue-eyed soul to the pop market (where Low had been worshipped by British teens). He recorded his last solo album in 1980, and from then on, he devoted his career to session work. From the mid '70s onward for thirty years, Low has been a top session guitarist, recording and touring with (most notably) the likes of The Who, Roger Waters, Bill Wyman, Eric Clapton, and George Harrison.

Two years ago, Low returned to recording, producing (with Glyn Johns) his first album in twenty-six years: Sweet Soulful Music. That title aptly describes the songs therein, most of which are uptempo neo-soul joints, full of horns and soulful singing and swaying. It's a fun record. The best song on there, though, is much more subdued. "Bible Black Starless Sky" (it's title a rearrangement of a Dylan Thomas poem) is a gospel song in all intent and purpose, but it's white gospel--laid-back white gospel, and it is--as Lionel Ritchie once sang--as easy as Sunday morning (if one doesn't have children; if one does, then one knows that getting ready to go somewhere any morning with children is most definitely not easy, no matter the day of the week). The song bespeaks of the assurance and comfort of spirit that religious experiences can bring; it reminds me of long ago, of the positive feelings I had after church was over, walking outside to the warm sunshine and the warm greetings of the exiting congregation.

Now, you don't have to be religious to enjoy the song; heck, I'm not a churchgoer anymore, and I'm not very relgious, either, but I understand the spiritual peace of mind Low prays for here, and if you can't get that spiritual peace of mind from religion, then you can certainly get it from listening to Low's pleasant tenor (and the harmonies of the background singers), his tasteful and soulful guitar, and the space that produce Johns gives Low's song for us to fill with our own prayers (or hopes) that there will be peace in the valley for each of us, wherever that valley may be.

You can listen to a thirty-second sample of it here.

The 333 Best Pop Songs of the 2000s: #237

#237: "Georgie Buck" (2007) - Carolina Chocolate Drops

Swinging it old school and keepin' it real. How real? How old? Try over one-hundred years old, back to Old Time music (once known as Old Time Familiar Music), which would eventually evolve into country (and bluegrass) music, played first by African-Americans, its progenitors. Primary? Black people played country music? There's Country Charley Pride, yeah, but...but....

Well, one of the two primary instruments of Old Time music (which is pretty-much a euphemism of Hillbilly Music) is the banjo, which is most decidedly an African-American (or African, depending on one's interpretation of when the slaves became American) creation, as slaves developed from gourds an instrument similar to the string-based instruments their ancestors/family used back in Africa. Dating back as far as the eighteenth century, slaves played banjos at religious meetings and various other events, and white musicians picked it (the instrument and the style of playing) from them. The other primary instrument of Old Time is the fiddle, which--from the colonial era to the very early twentieth century--was normally associated with black musicians, though they copped it from white musicians (who brought it to America from, mainly, Britain).

So, we have whites stealing from blacks, blacks stealing from whites, and by the time the nineteenth century rolls around, what do we get? Minstrel shows: white musicians in blackface, aping African-American musical form and style (as well as derogatory exaggerations of dialect). From there, the Civil War happens, and then Reconstruction, and then the Industrialization of the South, which turns the Piedmont area of North Carolina into the largest textile-manufacturing region in the world, and then Sears and Roebuck begin producing their catalog, which contains sheet music of the emerging styles of Ragtime and Tin Pan Alley, and they all mix and commingle with the already-established fiddle-heavy, British-ballad style of the nearby Southern Appalachian region to congeal into something known as Piedmont Stringband Music.

Piedmont Stringband Music--or Piedmont Blues, as it is sometimes called--differs from Appalachian folk music in that the banjo plays the prominent rhythmic role. In Appalachian Folk, the fiddle is the rhythmic lead, because of geography: the Appalachian people are pretty secluded by the their terrain, and thus new fads and innovations seep in slowly, if at all, and since the Appalachian people are primarily British immigrants, then their music is primarily British: ballads accompanied by fiddle (if there's any accompaniment at all). With the lower Piedmont area, though--and especially after Industrialization--different cultural, musical ideas intermingled on a much more regular basis, and thus we get the British (fiddle and the ballad lyric), the African-American (banjo and the blue notes played on it), the Deep River City South (Ragtime and its syncopation), and the Northern City Yankee (the Tin Pan Alley songwriters' structure and melody) all merging together to create a distinctive style of music that would last until shortly after WWII, when it would then die away almost completely, as the electric guitar blues of Chicago and Memphis (out of the Delta in Mississippi) drowned it out.

Flash-forward sixty years, and a new movement begins, one which is trying to re-establish Piedmont Stringband Music. The leading--and the best--band heading this movement are (taking their me from an old Tennessee stringband) the Carolina Chocolate Drops: Justin Robinson on fiddle and vocals (for this song, at least), Rhiannon Giddens on banjo, and Dom Flemons on jug (and on about any other acoustic instrument you can name on songs other than this one). "Georgie Buck" is an old song, recorded by various artists such as Taj Mahal, Earl Scruggs, and--most famously (though famously is relative, here)--by Doc Watson, himself from the Piedmont area (who became "famous" in 1960 playing guitar for Clarence Ashley, who had been performing stringband music since before WWI). The Carolina Chocolate Drops give the old nugget not only an update in sonics (meaning it don't sound old), but inject it with a great deal of wit and humor, keeping it fresh and alive, as they hope to do for the genre as well, and if they can keep making music this ancient and traditional sound this new and exciting, then maybe they and their contemporaries can convince the Coen Brothers to include them on the soundtrack to whatever period piece they direct next.

The 333 Best Pop Songs of the 2000s: #238

#238: "I'm Outta Love" (2000) - Anastacia

The year 2000: disco is dead. Remember all those records burned and broken? Though many in pop music like to laugh at it, and some actually call it a myth, there was a time when disco ruled the charts—and many hated that fact (and many still do). Not that there weren’t legitimate complaints about disco—there were, and there still are—but the legitimate complaints didn’t stand up to the fact that other than (at first) the Bee Gees (who were British), disco acts were predominantly black, their records were catchy and easily danceable (though melody always gave way to rhythm), and most white rock and roll acts of that era couldn’t/wouldn’t make dance records, and—other than whatever lifeless excrement the pre-Walsh Eagles shat out—one couldn’t find a record devoid of disco on the sales chart in the late mid ‘70s (though airplay was a different matter entirely). More so than the rock & rollers, the traditional rhythm & blues acts were really losing out on the music moola. Either they converted their sound to a disco beat (see Philly International’s stable of artists), or their sales plummeted. So what to do? Let’s ask Fernando Valenzuela to rest his pitching arm, rent out Dodger Stadium, through those Peaches & Herb and Sylvers’ records on the fire (while secretly stashing the Donna Summer singles), and watch as the wax wanes.

Fast forward twenty years, and disco nostalgia comes back—but not with a bullet this time. It’s looked upon as camp. Not just the music, but the clothing, the hairdos, the fabrics—if not the entire lifestyle—are fondly remembered (primarily by those not old enough to have been born in that era, much less remember it) as a fun trifle, piffle to mock and enjoy at the same time. That type of misremembering happens every decade (often resulting in popular bubblegum like Grease or That ‘70s Show), and to some extent (the mocking), it’s a least partially justified. What most of those nostalgia fans miss, though, in disco, is that some of those records weren’t just catchy and easily danceable thanks to the sustained, insistent, (often) monotonous beat—some were truly exciting records, full of soulful singing and great instrumentation.

This essence is what Anastacia seems to understand. The wah-wah guitars give us the funk (and a bit of wit), the organ gives the record soulful ambiance as well as a bit of bounce, and Anastacia—and her nasality gives her voice personality—knows how to ride and roll a rock-disco groove as sure as anyone since Donna Summer. Burn this record at your own risk.