This post has helped to confirm even more of what i already knew- i am not the greatest singer. i absolutely love singing (obviously), but i am not great at it. After legitimately hearing people who are tone deaf (some of whom are among my blood relatives), i’ve been doing my best in trying not to say i can’t sing. i mean… anyone who has functional use of a voice box can sing; it’s whether one can sing in a key that is decipherable to the respective song they are singing that is the key. As a giant fan of ‘bad singing’ (where it is my 5th favorite thing in the whole world) though, i don’t mind that.

i think singing, like playing an instrument, is a nice challenge for me. The songs i chose for this post were fairly spontaneous, because i do like the challenge.
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‘Plush’ by Stone Temple Pilots is a song i’ve loved from the moment i heard it. i have no idea when it was the first time i heard it, but it was definitely around the time of the single’s release. In the course of working on this post i remembered that i actually bought a cassette of Core (the album the song derives from) fairly immediately after hearing it- and that is literally all i remember. i obviously heard the rest of the album, but don’t recall any of the songs. ‘Plush’ was the only one that stuck with me. The other thing i remember specifically about the song is that it was incredibly hated by many, as it was seen as a Pearl Jam knockoff. i would not be surprised if Atlantic Records aimed to market them in that way, since the early 90s was an era where the industry attempted to pigeonhole a number of bands with the ‘grunge’ title. While a band like Mudhoney (especially in the 90s) sounded more like a marriage of Captain Beefheart and garage punk, Nirvana’s direct influences were bands like Pixies, Soundgarden seemed to have more prog/metal influences and Pearl Jam had more ‘jam band’ elements; i am not sure what a ‘grunge’ sound actually is.

But STP were not it. They were/are a lot more melodic than the sludginess of whatever the arbiters of consumer culture aim to market as ‘grunge’. And in the course of working on this post, it seems like many have come around to this song, with all of the other covers i have seen.

And i’ve just added to that. So if my cover is bad, i apologize in advance.
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As a person who tends to pay heavy attention to lyrics; in a rare instance, the chords were the first thing that grabbed me about the song. They were some of the most beautiful chords i have ever heard in my life, and as many a player of music says; similar to Stevie Wonder (or Bad Religion) chords, the ones of ‘Plush’ are something i have been trying to chase. The second guitar gives everything this hauntingly beautiful layer (that is missing in most covers, since most of the bands covering it has one guitarist). Robert DeLeo’s bass melodies are incredibly lovely as well.

On writing the riff, DeLeo said simply, “It’s kinda ragtime guitar.” After hearing that it made sense, because jazz (and diminished) chords are some of the most amazing on earth.

In terms of the lyrics though, Scott Weiland (who co-wrote the lyrics with drummer Eric Kretz) “A girl was kidnapped and then later found tragically murdered back in the early part of the ’90s. So it gave me fuel to write the words to this song. However, this song is not about that, really; it’s sort of a metaphor for a lost, obsessive relationship.”

After listening to the song one day, after a mini conversation i said “i’m going to cover this song.” i already knew i was not going to match the greatness of the original, but to be honest, that goes for any song i cover. It’s all in fun anyway, warts and all.
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i’ve been fairly obsessed with playing the melodica. People think of it as a toy, but there’s plenty of things you can do with it. From Jon Batiste to Ena Yoshida to Jon King to bands like New Order and the Smiths… the melodica can be used effectively. Again, like with my singing (or any other instrument) i’m not great at it, but fun is the operative word we should be focused on.

My favorite thing to play on the Suzuki Melodion M-37C though, is ‘Giant Steps’, a song that absolutely changed my life when i was 19 years old, and along with Herbie Hancock’s ‘Maiden Voyage’, contributed to me loving music itself, as opposed to specific bands or artists.

For most of the covers here i played the melodica with some percussion, vocals and bass; i think i added a bit of guitar here as well.

Getting back to the singing; one thing i am understanding more and more is my range. The songs i sang here might be easy for some, but in some ways was challenging for me.

My range is mostly in the ‘folk singer’ mode. i am not a belter at all (which is why you don’t see me covering a lot of songs where that happens, despite me loving a lot of that stuff. i suppose i am more of a belter when i am not being serious, but my actual singing voice, i don’t do very well in that. i am also not much of a screamer, even though i do occasional ‘screaming’, and used to do it a lot more in some bands when i was younger.

(i started thinking about how perhaps i should cover some Suzanne Vega, who’s one of my favorite ever artists. i think i could perhaps handle those kinds of vocals).
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i didn’t want just one song to be a post, but i had no idea what songs i could cover- then randomly, Chris Connelly popped into my head. He’s perhaps known by most as having Ministry and Pigface associations, but his solo works are fairly diverse, and absolutely amazing. He also co-wrote the lyrics to ‘Rapid Fire’ with Meshell Ndegeocello (from the album Weather), one of my favorite artists ever of all time, in the whole world.

Connelly wrote in his book Concrete, Bulletproof, Invisible, and Fried: My Life As A Revolting Cock that “99%” of the folks who were fans of the bands he’s normally associated with (like Ministry or the Revolting Cocks) hated his solo stuff. i do not know how true that is; however, if it is, those folks are missing out on some amazing music. i am glad i actually had an opportunity to see him back in the 90s, when he performed at the Limelight in NYC.

The song i chose for this post is one of my favorite songs of his, ‘No Lesser Of Two Evils’, from what he considers to be the “unfortunately named” Phenobarb Bambalam. He doesn’t seem to be that fond of the album. From what i recall, it was a pretty rough time during the making of this album (for many reasons, including the physical transition of a partner, which inspired the album on some level).

That said, while working on this post i did find out the album was recently reissued on Wax Trax! in 2023, with some extra tracks (plus a lengthy commentary by Connelly). i currently only have it on the original CD, but i used to have it on both cassette and vinyl as well. Anyone not familiar with him might automatically give the vocals some David Bowie comparisons. Actually listening to the music though, would automatically lose the comparison. This man has made so many solo albums and has been in too many bands to count, that to compare him to a singular artist would not be doing justice to the music.

The other thing about this post is that i never realized i’d been singing the lyrics to the song wrong the whole time. i don’t recall the cassette or vinyl having a lyric sheet, and the CD doesn’t have one either. Perhaps the reissue does.

i go to look up lyrics- and they could not be more wrong. Every single lyrics site had the same exact massively incorrect lyrics. i know i have gotten a bunch of the lyrics wrong, but this is too much. The cover i do does the best with whatever information i’ve been given, and what i know are the correct lyrics, despite sill (obviously) getting some of them absolutely incorrect.

The main riff of the piano has some bouncy piano (juxtaposing with the son’s sadness); however, the melodica makes it sound a bit more like the Smiths, or even a bit of Gang Of Four. The other thing that makes this song interesting is that it doesn’t have a traditional chorus.

The other thing that makes me happy is that i finally found a way to fit in the cowbell, which i think is in the original song as well.

If covering Chris Connelly was not on my ‘to do’ list for this blog, neither was the James Gang. i’m technically not as good as anyone in that band… at all.

But again, i am up for a challenge.

Similar to ‘Plush’; i don’t know where i first got exposed to them. i used to buy as much vinyl as i could find (since vinyl was much less expensive than it is now). i think the first records i got were a ‘best of’ compilation, and James Gang Rides again. Both of those had what ended up being two of my favorite James Gang songs- ‘Ashes, The Rain & I’ (from Rides Again– my absolute favorite song of theirs) and the Live In Concert version of ‘Take A Look Around’. i didn’t hear the original Yer’ Album version (which includes a third verse missing from the live version) until a bit later. Both songs have an instrumental coda, which give the songs the intended emotional resonance.

A lot of people point to songs like ‘Funk #49’ or ‘Walk Away’ as being favorites; however, while those songs are great, they have some pretty amazing album cuts, like ‘Things I Could Be’, ‘It’s All The Same’ (both from the Thirds album) and the two featured in this post.

Also similar to Connelly’s song, ‘Take A Look Around’ does not have a traditional chorus.. One of the more interesting things i discovered in the midst of doing these two songs is that they are both in complete juxtaposition to one another: ‘Take A Look Around’ is about not looking to the past and seeking to live a life of now, with joy. The narrator of ‘Ashes, The Rain & I’ is “Living days gone by”.

Speaking of incorrect lyrics; for the longest time i used to think the lyrics of ‘Take A Look Around’ were “Too many words to talk/and no one to hear them” as opposed to “Moments too few”, because again, i only heard the live version for a long time. i still cannot unhear it.

i am also amazed at how many variants James Gang records have. Many people talk about the multiple variants being released today; James Gang records have been repressed/reissued, remastered, released to various countries, and reissued yet again.

With ‘Ashes’, i played only the guitar and bass (with vocals), and ‘Take A Look Around’ was all of the other things previously mentioned.

i had fun doing these (despite any struggles i had along the way). i hope anyone who listens finds some positivity out of them.