Mike Bennett writesFriday iPod/MP3 Shuffle—Happy Birthday Tom T. Hall Edition

Tom T. Hall earned his nickname “The Storyteller”. After playing in bands, dating back to high school, he got his break in music selling songs in Nashville, penning some charting country hits in the early ’60s. Things exploded when he wrote “Harper Valley P.T.A.”, a 1968 smash for Jeanne C. Riley, which spawned movies and a television show. Not too long after that, Hall established himself as a recording artist, with tons of great story songs, mixed in with straightforward declarations like “I Like Trucks”. He carved out a niche for himself that led to 11 chart topping country hits. Let’s pay tribute to Tom by grabbing your iPod or MP3 player, hitting shuffle, and sharing the first 10 songs that come up.

1. Ava Luna — Calculus (Ice Level): A nifty arty funk band from New York who brings back memories of post-punkers. This song relies on cool percussion and jazzy cool backing vocals. The lead singer’s father was a prominent NYC DJ back in the ’70s, and he is making his daddy proud with this smart music that you can dance to.
2. The Futureheads — Hounds Of Love (The Futureheads): Thrilling cover of the Kate Bush classic. This showcases this Sunderland band’s outstanding harmony vocals, while rocking up this Bush tune without losing an ounce of its passion.
3. The Revelers — Meet Me At The Station (Hard Times, Sunday Spirits): This Cleveland band was a power pop band with a bit of a mod influence. This song benefits from a cool organ part and some splendid harmony vocals in the refrain. Good ’60s inspired rock.
4. The Posies — Flood Of Sunshine (Dear 23): One of Ken Stringfellow’s numbers from the second Posies album. Working with the great John Leckie, things got a lot more ornate for these guys. Initially, based on my enjoyment of their debut (Failure) which was punchier. But with further plays, the greatness of the band really comes through. They take ’60s and power pop influences and infuse them with intelligence, creating a sound that is obviously inspired but never less than original. This is a moody song that builds up to an epic guitar solo.
5. Psychedelic Furs — Fall (Psychedelic Furs): A jabbing rant from the Furs’ classic debut. I once read that on the U.S. issue of the album, Richard Butler sang the word ‘stupid’ on the first side somewhere around 60 times. This song is like a nasty Roxy Music, and then really kicks into gear when it drops to Vince Ely’s pounding drums and Butler’s rasp. This is such a cool album…and it’s 32 years old.
6. Game Theory — Dead Center (Distortions Of Glory): One of the artier numbers from one of the artiest power pop bands ever. This comes off a CD collection of the bands’ early work. This track starts with Scott Miller talking about literature and other stuff. Once the music finally kicks in, it leaps into early Pink Floyd psychedelic territory, before hitting on a riff that carries the song forward. This is a bit funky, but only a bit. and more of a groove than a tune, unusual by Game Theory standards.
7. Sanny X — It’s It’s The Sweet Mix (12” single): I picked this up in 1985, when there was a bit of a ’70s glam rock revival in England. Sanny X was a British DJ who mixed some classic Sweet singles into something of a dance mix, using looping techniques. He takes on “Blockbuster”, “Teenage Rampage”, “Hellraiser” and “Ballroom Blitz”, and the way he remixes that final track is pretty awesome. This is a ton of fun and I put it on a cart (i.e., cartridge tape) for my college station, where it got a lot of play.
8. Original Sins — Move (Move): A chugging R & B fueled garage rock track from this Pennsylvania band. This was the title cut to their double album opus, produced by Peter Buck. The lead singer went on as Brother JT for a while. John Terlinsky was a good singer-shouter, and was well versed in all types of ’60s songcraft.
9. Loretta Lynn — Trouble In Paradise (All Time Greatest Hits): This song has a nifty bounce to it. The mix of the buoyant rhythm guitar scratching and the pedal steel guitar is pretty nifty. This song could certainly be rocked up a little bit and make a nice cover for someone like Lydia Loveless.
10. XTC — Statue Of Liberty (White Music): XTC’s debut just explodes with frantic energy, as Andy Partridge and his band mates played edgy, but catchy tunes as a hyped up pace. The song that provides the best clue to Partridge’s pop gifts is this pop paean to France’s gift to the United States. This is a delightfully clever tune and the chorus is great for singalongs.