A column dedicated to great songs, old and new.
March 28, 2006
Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
From Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo, Warner Brothers Records,
1978
Written by James Blood Ulmer
From Tales of Captain Black, Artist House Records 1979
I've got two names for you: Alan Myers and Denardo Coleman. These are the names of the drummers on these two songs, and to me, they are the undeniable connection between song one, a Stones cover by art-pop freakboys Devo, and song two, a surreal chunk of progressive jazz-funk by guitar troubadour James Blood Ulmer.
Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo
Devo
Devo's cover of "Satisfaction" (produced by Brian Eno) is still distinctive and fresh, almost 30 years later. Jagger's always been an underrated lyricist; critics often dismiss his words because of his relative lack of hardcore street cred (the London School of Economics and all that), and fans don't often look for depth from his over-the-top, strutting persona. A closer look reveals that the lyric captures an existential restlessness in the face of mass-media messages, something which is just as applicable in today's information age as it was back in the day. As a reminder, dig these excerpts from the verses, which most of us know by heart, anyway:
When I'm drivin' in my car
And that man comes on the radio
And he's tellin' me more and more
About some useless information
Supposed to fire my imagination....
When I'm watchin' my tv
And that man comes on to tell me
How white my shirts can be....
These are sort of mutated blues lyrics, really, directly dealing with frustrations related to modern media. In the mid-western, post-modern hands of Devo, the message (significantly) stays the same, but the raunchy blues-rock of the original vaporizes, and is replaced by a robotic lock-step groove, stepping up the feel of frustration and distance. The result is a twisted new-wave masterpiece that may even convey the restlessness of the lyric better than the original.
At the heart of it all is Alan Myers' whacked-out drumbeat, with its cymbal-bell, quick hi-hat accent, and steady, syncopated snare. He stays in that pocket, fills and all, while guitars and synth slither around the groove. It's a marvelous display of the potential for forward-thinking new-wave artists to merge pop with the avant-garde, to do something fresh and unique while also delivering something as familiar as "Satisfaction".
Tales of Captain Black
James Blood Ulmer
In 1979, a year after the release of the Devo album which contained "Satisfaction", guitarist James Blood Ulmer released his Tales of Captain Black album, which features the instrumental track "Woman Coming." Ulmer is a longtime cohort of renegade jazzman Ornette Coleman (one of my favorite music conceptualists), and Coleman and fluid-fingered bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma are all over the record. Ulmer's music, like Ornette's, is not rooted in traditional, European-derived notions of harmonic development: lead lines are angular and abstract, player solos are occasionally simultaneous and seemingly continuous, rhythm follows melody (and vice-versa), and texture and vibe rule the day. "Woman Coming" is especially notable for the responsive, polyrhythmic kit-drum attack by Denardo Coleman (Ornette's son, 23 years old at the time). There's not one ride-cymbal spang-a-lang to be found here - it's all pulsing kick, seemingly random snare and tom hits, and accented cymbal smashes, making for a dense, progressive jazz-funk which still sounds completely unique.
I connect these two songs because of the relatively cozy timeframe of recording and release, and because of the herky-jerky tendencies of both drummers, who happen to come from very different traditions. Did Denardo Coleman and Alan Myers know each other, or of each other? I tend to doubt it. But the great thing about music, as all musicians and music-lovers know, is that its mystical power transcends all human-imposed boundaries, and often touches like minds and spirits in like ways. Personally, I love the idea that something about the musical climate (and the creative collective unconscious) of the late 70s spawned a quirky synchronicity in the approach of these drummers and these releases; a synchronicity that connects the Stones to James Blood Ulmer, and back again to Devo and Brian Eno.
Only Alan Myers and Denardo Coleman know for sure.
pcm
Purchase:
Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo
$8.97 at Amazon.com
$8.99 at Tower
Records
Purchase:
Tales of Captain Black
$44.99 at Amazon.com
$18.99 at Tower
Records
Tales of Captain Black is currently only available in the US as a very expensive import. Check ebay.com and gemm.com for deals on used vinyl and cassette copies.