As regular readers will probably have realized by now, Joe Steinhardt is one of my vaorite wrongers certainly of this decade and possibly ever.If all he had ever written was “”Heart” for Modern Hut and “Headaches” for his first band For Science he would deserve a place of pride on easy list. Joe is also co-owner of Don Giovanni records who have brought us the Groucho Marxist, Screaming Females and Pregnant to name but three.
We are all eagerly waiting Modern Hut to release some stuff (though you can google em for a taste) but as Joe noted, he works slow but it is worth it.
I contacted Joe last week and asked if he would forward a list of songs he loved and/or influenced and him I would review em. And please don’t get too obscure. Joe forwarded the following along with a folder with the songs. Here is the list, I will write a short comment at the end and at a later, Of the 22 songs Joe chose, I have heard 12 of the artists and know 9 of the songs so I need a little time to check the other’s out.
Butch Hancock – 1981: A Spare Odyssey
Lucinda Williams – Sharp Cutting Wings
Vic Chesnutt – Danny Carlisle
Eddie Hinton – Hard Luck Guy
Drive-By Truckers – Zip City
Elton John – Funeral For A Friend
Connie Dungs – Kitty
Witch – Seer
The Roches – Hammond Song
Prince – Purple Rain
Shellshag – Garys Note
Stormshadow – Compassion Confection
Iris Dement – The Way I Should
Warren Zevon – Poor, Poor Pitiful Me
Natalie Merchant – San Andreas Fault
Joni Mitchell – The Last Time I Saw Richard
Fleetwood Mac- Second Hand News
The Cure – In Between Days
J Church – Tide Of Fate
Screeching Weasel – Leather Jacket
Alejandro Escovedo – Always A Friend
Sgt. Sunshine – Vega
Comment: Everything Lindsay Buckingham has ever done from Buckingham/Nicks all the way tolast year’s Gift Of Screws and including th three Fleetwood Mac albums that culminated in Tusk are lessons in soungwriting. I am not surprised to see Joe learnt from him. Screetching Weasel who I will get around to sound similar to For Siences whinge bray on top of tighly constructed punk-pop rock standards and I will be interested to take a closer look at them. But where does taste end and influence end on this list? I will post on that question at a later date!