 |
| Puddles Pity Party |
I've mentioned
before my meticulous obsession to assure that everything we publish has some
kind of connection, as if AM were a long, one-sided conversation. So, as
preface to this little interlude, I'll mention that I saw IT this past weekend.
I've been fixated on clowns of late, anticipating seeing my favorite singing
clown, Puddles Pity Party, next month at the Keswick in Philadelphia. If you haven't experienced Puddles, you need
to, keeping in mind that you may very well question my integrity when you do.
And of course there's Twisty from American Horror Story, who should bring both
nightmares and tears, and from IT, there is Pennywise. Who would have thought
that anyone could attempt to reconceptualize Tim Curry's haunting portrayal,
but Bill
Skarsgård does a fine job in
a film that I didn't find offensive, and that's a great compliment from a
writer whose critical eye turns only to Rosemary's Baby or The Birds when it
comes to the genre.
A long-winded
paragraph simply to point to Tim Curry's hauntingly beautiful and forgotten LP,
Read My Lips, as a connection to 1977. Coming off his portrayal of Frank-N-Furter
in The Rocky Horror Show in L.A. and the film, as well, Curry was clever in
recreating a persona that reflected Rocky Horror, but like a good conclusion to
an essay, transformed the idea for the next level. Read My Lips is one of those
forgotten LPs that shouldn't be; a nightmarish take on Burt Bacharach
stylings; you know, like if Bacharach were evil.
A great example
is the male perspective on Joni Mitchell's "All I Want," in which Curry changes
the lyric, "I want to knit you a sweater" to "I want a hand up your sweater;" that
simplicity is genius. Curry's booming voice is the dark side's equivalent to
Rick Astley and it works best on the Bacharach cover "Anyone Who Had a Heart," yet one
of the most intriguing songs on the cabaret-oriented LP is the haunting "Alan," a
cryptic ode most likely detailing the senseless pummeling of a gay man. It is a gripping work of storytelling.
The LP is chock
full of musicianship from guitarist Dick Wagner and even some accordion from
Nils Lofgren. "Alan's" production seems to point directly back to the work Wagner
did with Alice Cooper, including the Cooper hit "Only Women Bleed," which he
penned, and the frightening "Steven," both from Welcome to My Nightmare. Where
Cooper was camp and vaudeville, Curry's debut was all about realism.
It's Wagner's
guitar that is so recognizable, though, particularly working with producer Bob
Ezrin. Wagner, like Read My Lips, is often unmentioned in rock reportage and
that is absurd, having worked with Lou Reed on Berlin and touring with Reed for
Rock 'n' Roll Animal, the intro to which is an AM10 guitar duet. Wagner would
go on that same year, as one of Bob Ezrin’s go-to players, to work with Peter
Gabriel on Gabriel's debut.
Dawns on my that
just because I saw IT doesn't mean there is a connection to you, dear reader.
Ho-hum. And there is indeed no connection to the following article on a young
Kate Bush, except that they both appeared on the scene in 1977, and that I scored both Read My Lips and The Kick Inside in near mint condition vinyl yesterday for $2.99 a piece. But let's see if I can manipulate it a little better: It to Pennywise to Tim Curry to Read My Lips to Dick Wagner to Peter Gabriel to Kate Bush. That's my Six Degrees of Separation. I know, it's kind of lame.
