Musings on the Most Ridiculous Band I Can't Stop Listening To

Under Pressure

Contest time, Enthusiasts! Who did it best?

The original, written by Toots himself, and recorded in 1969?

Or what about Robert Palmer’s 1975 version, backed up by Little Feat?

The Only Band That Mattered from 1979? Spoiler: they turned it into a Clash song.

How about Izzy Stradlin & the Juju Hounds off their incredibly underrated 1992 album?

Maybe you think The Specials’ 1999 rendition was special?

CHOOSE YOUR EASY SKANKER!

21 Comments

  1. ritchie vanian

    The Clash-
    ps- my band Wrecked does it too- but now we’re not, because of that shitty beer commercial using it.

  2. JES

    Love me some Toots, but gonna pick Robert Palmer here. I love all of his albums up thru “Pride” . . . I think people remembering him most for his ’80s video hits these days is mildly tragic . . .

  3. Luther Von Baconson

    Are you hopped on The Zoots? Toots.

  4. Larry Rader

    Sort of a tie, but ties are like kissing your sister, so here’s the definitive answer.
    1. Toots. His song. What is this? Jimi or Dylan’s version of Watchtower? No. It isn’t. And Bob still wins that one too. In fact, you know whose cover version is better than the original? Nobodies. That’s whose. 1(a). Clash. Because they were and will always be the only band that mattered. And they would cheerfully have welcomed Toots up there to sing it with them and he would have known full well that the Clash played it better than the Maytals. 3. The Specials. Because everything they ever did was great. (Still do, apparently.) And the song Toots wrote deserved to be danced to by a crazy booze and coke addled ska punk crowd while the band picked up their roadies and threw them onto the audience. That trick can never be unseen by these eyes, and it makes the Specials special. 4. Robert Palmer. Because it’s really a three band contest but Little Feat ain’t no slouches and this is a cool version. That said, no way Robert Palmer’s bass player tossed his roadies into the crowd. 4. Izzy. Because while it’s clear that the song Toots wrote kept getting better as it got faster, and while i don’t doubt that Izzy’s lost masterpiece solo album is underrated, my cover band of lawyers and other schmucks has done this to songs forever. Play our favorite songs louder, faster, and with tube screamers set to 10. No, we don’t have any GnR players, but we do have a former Fleshtone. Our motto – we may suck, but we’re loud. Izzy doesn’t suck, but the version is for a cover band at Dean Ween’s local bar in New Hope.

  5. Cube

    In the spirit of without research. Ive listened to all of these before. Maybe not the robert palmer one. Do i have to? I’m partial to the specials.

    • Thoughts On The Dead

      Robert Palmer–specifically 70’s RP–is VASTLY underrated. Plus his backing band is Little Feat!

  6. Carlos

    The Palmer one was very well done,
    This one while not one of the best on the album ‘true love’ 2004 features Eric clapton.
    https://youtu.be/mFuM4lvzU_I

    • Thoughts On The Dead

      YOU WILL NOT PRAISE ERIC CLAPTON HERE, SIR. Nope. I will not have it.

      • Carlos

        No offence man I did say it wasn’t one of the better songs Ie I don’t think I’ve made it all the way through it- yet other songs I’ve heard millions of times from the same album ‘the Roots, Toots, and Boots (y)!

  7. Tor Haxson

    Robert Palmer is good until about 1:05 or so and then the vocal riff is just a bit too glossy to fit in, TooMuch RP not enough LF.

    Clash.. Nope, Everyone else Nope, the song may be a1969 song but it feels like a 1965 song and it should sound like one.

  8. Tor Haxson

    Can we do Sweet and Dandy now?

    Dupont Primary School nails it, and there is dancing

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oD1xSrq-FQ

    Travis AppleBooty gives it a try..

    And there is a trombone..

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTaPtANGbK8

    Toots himself as a youngster

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_St8Kbo4uwU

  9. Tor Haxson

    Robert Palmer’s album art proves he is misguided.

    The Ohio Players proved unequivocally that Tits Sell Records.. some groups however fought the trend and put other body parts on album covers.

    In the end we remember the Ohio Players and forget everyone else.

    To further prove the point, even Triumvirat when releasing a whole concept album based on contemplating Ass — “illusions on a double dimple” — knew better than to just slap an ass on the cover.

    *warning* do not listen to triumvirat.

    • JES

      (You know who I’ma listen to right now, don’tcha?)

      • Tor Haxson

        JES,

        Of all people, you are capable of listening to triumvirat and not going insane.

        For normal people it is like reading the Necronomicon.

        You however, could put it in a playlist with Chicago, X, Jello Biafra and Jean Michale Jarre and get up the next day like nothing happened.

        • JES

          I am the monster that eats all the musics. Wait ’til you see THIS year’s best of list in December, whoa nelly!!

          On a bizarre side bar, see #45 here . . .

          https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/50-greatest-prog-rock-albums-of-all-time-78793/triumvirat-illusions-on-a-double-dimple-1974-34784/

          That’s actually where I first heard of them. I was offended that there was an albums selected for such a list with which I was unfamiliar, so I nabbed it and spun. Not Top 50 in my book, by a long shot, (see: https://jericsmith.com/2010/10/01/march-of-the-mellotrons-the-best-classic-progressive-rock-album-ever/), but not bad, really, when you’re in the mood for ornate noodling . . . .

          • carlos

            ALRIGHT Music nerds, the interesting thing about this post is the Robert Palmer/Little Feat/Meters angle. So on Palmers solo debut 1974 album ‘sneakin sally through the alley’ which features his cover of the title track originally a Lee Dorsey 1970 hit -Palmer was backed by Lowell George and the Meters and it was recorded in New Orleans with Allen Toussaint (who himself has covered lee dorsey – ‘Everything I do gonna be funky from now on’) Now the MIghty Diamonds recorded their 1977 album fire and Ice in New Orleans with Allen Toussaint and also covered ‘sneakin sally’
            the MIghty Diamonds specifically said that as youngsters they loved lee dorsey and the Meters. Sneakin Sally was apparently an outtake from the Run from the Roses sessions too.
            AS for album art and the Ohio Players, I assume you have seen the cover for Jimmy Cliffs 1974 ‘Music Maker’ album ‘wonderful world indeed’ – and we’re still talking about him so I guess that proves your theory. now i gots to go and listen to this triumvirate.

          • Tor Haxson

            Lowell Georges White Overalls.. Carlos knows some neat stuff.

            Lowell Georges’ White Overalls is my new exclamation.
            Like Jumpin Jehoosaphat, or Holy Shit, I will now say. Lowell George’s White Overalls.

          • JES

            THOUGHTS ON THE TRIUMVIRAT!!!!

  10. Carlos

    Oh for James bookers eyepatch don’t be silly

  11. Tor Haxson

    I told you all NOT to listen to Triumvirat..

    By James Booker’s Eyepatch, I swear, you all are the most disobedient misfits on the interwebs.

  12. dj5000000

    Did Robert Palmer use The Meters when he played Little Feat songs and then use Little Feat when he played Meters tunes ?

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