I love Vampire Weekend.  I've loved them since the moment I heard "Oxford Comma". I love the staccato weird way they sing and I love their lyrics and I especially love the tight little guitar riffs that appear out of nowhere, especially on cousins, which is, yes, my favorite song on the album but there are no clunkers on this record. It's just one of those records where you can put it on and never wrinkle up your nose once. It's all cool. I cracked the cellophane on this one and I was happy with all the swag you get with this record. You get a giant poster of that girl on the cover who looks like one of those sorority girls who goes missing on Spring Break in the Caribbean and foul play is suspected and some foreigner is under suspicion because she can't possibly have gone missing because she went swimming naked, drunk out of her mind.

You also get a download code so you can download the whole album and you ALSO get a CD with Contramelt #1 and #2 and a remix of Cousins. Cool, right?

My second favorite song is "Diplomat's Son". It's sort of mixed with an eighties sound combined with a reggae-Carib-Techno-ish beat and great lyrics.

You have to own this record.

Seriously.

For Sunday Morning, eating cornmeal pancakes (ran out of maple syrup and used melted boysenberry jam which was even better), you can't beat this record. VP doesn't usually reach for the Pop first thing in the day but I really really like this record probably because there's so much heart in Elvis's version of Pop. TRUST was produced by Nick Lowe (this was the fifth consecutive album Lowe produced) and though the album is mostly upbeat, the lyrics reflect Elvis's disenchantment with a newly elected Conservative government in England and his unhappiness in his marriage.  Elvis calls it his most drug-induced album.

I have to admit, "Watch Your Step" is my all time favorite Elvis song but I love "Pretty Words" too, and who doesn't love "Different Finger"? I always imagine Elvis playing that one in a country bar to a two-stepping crowd, though I doubt that's ever happened.

Elvis is so present in all of his songs (even under the influence) and even back in '81 he featured lush instrumentation and lyrics that he became famous for later on in his career. If you haven't heard this record in a while you need to revisit it. Don't forget the pancakes.

I was talking to someone yesterday about Dennis Hopper and he told me that Dennis is very very sick and the news made me so sad. I dug through my albums and dusted off this old soundtrack, recorded for the documentary movie The American Dreamer with Dennis Hopper, made in 1971. I still haven't seen the movie except for bits and pieces but I love this record so much. It feaures Gene Clark, John Manning, Hello People, and John Buck Wilkin. Dennis wrote the liner notes and I read through them again. This paragraph struck me as particularly poignant:

"I'm still, at 34, terribly naive. The whole world of business, the money-mongers, it's a totally outrageous world to me. I want to make movies and I want to talk about humanity in symbolistic, mystical terms. I have very little to do with business. I'm probably trapped in a world of my own creation.

The song that really kills me and reminds the most of Dennis Hopper is "Pass Me By" by Hello People. It's sounds like driving down a highway, not really caring where you're going or if you arrive. I know that Dennis probably loved this one. He brought a certain anarchy to film-making and the truth is, they just don't make the kind of movies he used to do anymore, movies like Easy Rider, Cool Hand Luke, and The Trip. I think I see a Dennis Hopper film festival in my future.

I have a copy of this LP but I can't find an image for it online. That's Arthur right there. Here's some info I found about Gunter on a site featuring some old Excello LP's:

"Arthur Gunter was born on the 23rd May 1926 in Nashville, Tennessee. Gunter was a musician from an early age; as a child, he was in a gospel group with his brothers and cousins called the Gunter Brothers Quartet. In the early 1950s he played guitar in various blues groups around Nashville. Gunter was a regular at the record shop owned by Excello chief Ernie Young and the association led to a recording contract in 1954. In 1955, Gunter recorded Baby Let's Play House for Excello, which became a local hit. It became nationally known later that year when Elvis Presley recorded a version forSun Records. His first royalty check, received that same year, was for $6500. Gunter was less than impressed, however, with the attitude of the rock n'roll kid and his management:

"Elvis got that number and made it famous. But I didn't get a chance to shake his hand."

Arthur Gunter continued to record for Excello until 1961. His regular band broke up in 1966 and he moved to Pontiac, Michigan, performing only occasionally thereafter. He died of pneumonia on March 16th 1976 at his home in Port Huron, Michigan."

Pretty short, sad life for a man who changed the world of Blues music.

I love this LP. It's the kind of blues that I can relate to. Gunter has a deep husky voice that I find very appealing. The tracks aren't fifteen  minutes long and "Baby, Let's Play House" sounds like it should in his hands because it's his song.  I also love "Blues After Hours" and "Ludella" now performed by every modern Bluesman on the planet and I'm sure that none give Arthur Gunter his credit due for penning some of the best blues songs ever written.

Arthur Gunter easily my favorite Bluesman and I recommend you look for this LP but I suspect that it might be a bit tricky to find. I got mine at Reckless records on Haight Street for four bucks.

Someone should play this LP for John Mayer and then beat him with his guitar.