MICHAEL DES BARRES: Carnaby Street - Song by Song (Part Two)

The other day we started a new feature here on the Gonzo Daily. It is called 'Song by Song', and it does exactly what it says on the tin. Basically I go through an album song by song, and then pass my notes on to the artist who made the album in the first place, and see what they have to say. And now its time to look at what I think will be one of the most important new albums of 2012 - Carnaby Street by Michael Des Barres.

But before we start, check out Part one of this feature

4. Sugar

“For me this song is in the grand tradition of sexy rock songs. The heart of rock and roll unquestionably and passionately beats below the waist!”

A gloriously sexy guitar-driven song which evokes the swamp-blues sexiness of Dr John at his most arcane. Once again it is the interplay between the glorious organ textures and the sinuous and inventive guitar lines. The guitar textures on this song in particular are completely magnificent, and provide a perfect backing to Michael, who again sounds vaguely like Rod Stewart at his best, but most importantly sounds just like Michael Des Barres.

5. Route 69

“Like in great American literature, you can't make a great album without referencing the road. This song is about 2 misfits who meet 'in a roadside twist of fate' on the highway. A slice of Americana with 3 chords and a nod to the immortal Chuck Berry”

What particularly interests me about Michael Des Barres, and his work on this album in particular is the fact that although he has been living in America for about four decades as far as I am aware, he still has that essential Englishness about him. He is singing about “hitching down the Interstate”, but he still sounds ever-so-slightly like Billy Bragg singing about the A13, trunkroad to the sea. “If you’re ever going to Showburyness, take the A Road, the OK road that’s the best, go Motoring on the A13”.

Something that has never been satisfactorily explained is how the music of lower class black men from the Missisippi Delta was seized upon and reworked by middle and upper class white men from the Thames Delta some twenty or thirty years after the fact. Both sets of musical outpourings were extraordinary. Both sets of outpourings are amply illustrated here.

6. Please Stay

“The great soul singers names: Otis, Sam Cooke, Wilson Pickett are carved into my heart. This song is in honor of the great sad songs of soul music”.

One of the things which is often overlooked about the great soul-rock music of the sixties and seventies, is how many of their roots were in religious music. Some of the DNA in this song comes from a rich strain of gospel/soul shouters such as The Rolling Stones version of "You Gotta Move", a song written by Fred McDowell and Rev. Gary Davis, on Sticky Fingers.

It is actually surprising here that Michael evokes the names of Otis Redding et al, but not James Brown, who – especially on the live version which you can see on YouTube – is looking down from heaven and smiling beatifically upon the way that Michael performs this glorious number. The second half is even sweatier and more celebratory than the first. An absolutely brilliant start to what would have been side two if records still had two sides.

7. Little Latin Lover

“I love the Latino culture. I live in California. Immigration is very important to me. I wrote this song from the perspective of a man whose wife and baby daughter had been deported, in my view, unfairly. It also kicks major ass”.

A very cool rock-a-boogie song in which Michael gets up on a righteous soapbox and takes on the American government, or at least its Immigration officials. More people should do this in my humble opinion. It is something which never ceases to amaze me in this album, the way that Michael manages to take something as predictable and as well worn as a 12-bar boogie, and not only make it his own, but wrest something new and disturbingly beautiful from it.

That's it for today, but we shall be back with the third and final part tomorrow, as well as some exclusive words from the man himself about Your my Pain Killer.

Check him out at Gonzo:

http://www.gonzomultimedia.co.uk/artists/6804/Michael%20Des%20Barres