I know you all have seen this video, but...

Posts : 843 Join date : 2008-11-20

it is so good I had to put it up here (if it hasn't been put up here already Embarassed

)
When the Bells Don't Chime

brightens my day

It's a really good one, thanks a lot Kelley !
I like this song and the album it comes from.
Good post ! Like a Star @ heaven

Posts : 843 Join date : 2008-11-20

I never heard this song before guess I might have to listen to more songs from this album!

Posts : 949 Join date : 2008-04-17

Whatever you think about NBFD as an album, there are some great individual tunes on there, and this is one of them. This informal setting here doesn't really do it justice, as you gotta have Bernie and Spazz for the proper hillbilly rave-up.

I think it's a great song of defiance for anyone who has been dumped, despite Brian's proclamation in this clip that "It's about women." Whatever arrogant misogyny is present in that quip, I think the song is much more universally applicable. Whether or not it holds any personal meaning for Brian is a topic for another message board. I feel the best songs are those to which many can relate, and unfortunately, too many of us can relate to this one. Someone breaks up with you, you've moved from denial into the anger stage, had a bit to drink, perhaps. This is the kinda song you'd sing.

If Brian or Surfdog ever try to anthologize his solo (non-BSO, post-EMI) days, this is one from Nitro that oughta make the cut.

Banjo-billy

Posts : 733 Join date : 2008-04-18 Location : France

And what about this wonderfull song (from the same session)?

Frenchy(rumblin' tonight)Cat

PS: has somebody here any information about this solo session? Jon, Alex, Rickabilly? Come on guys..... bounce

Posts : 843 Join date : 2008-11-20

"Someone breaks up with you, you've moved from denial into the anger stage, had a bit to drink, perhaps. This is the kinda song you'd sing."

well I never experienced that before, but broken friendships, yes Evil or Very Mad

I guess that is pretty similar too eh? it sucks!

Guest

Frenchy,
yeeess, that's from the same session, taped on Sep 18, 2003 in NYC.
The session included:
When The Bells, Rumble, Folsom Prison Blues, I Won't Stand In Your Way and Smokin' & Burnin'

To be honest, I don't like Nitro at all... just 3-4 songs are remarkable (Don't Trust A Woman, Ring...) but that's it. In a Spanish paper, Nitro was said to be the best Setzer solo album ever... eheeemm.... Live Nude Guitars & Rockin' By Myself will ever be the best Setzer solo albums.

Posts : 733 Join date : 2008-04-18 Location : France

I knew I could count on you, Jon! Thanks for the information.

I'm with you about the NBFD album: I remember well I bought it at a japanese site because of a bonus track. I have to admit I was disappointed after having playing it 2 ou 3 times. Like you, I love 3 or 4 songs (The bells, 60 years, Don't trust, Drink Whiskey..) and I really hate some others (may I say it here? Embarassed

) like St Jude! We have to remember that the previous album (Ignition) was a very good one, maybe the best in Brian's solo career. Then came "13", another very good original work.

FrenchyCat

Posts : 949 Join date : 2008-04-17

I know I like Nitro Burnin' Funny Daddy considerably more than some of you, but it is far from being my favorite Setzer album. Here is an outtake I was gonna post last week when Andi was looking for some advice on which album to buy next:

People plugged into the soap opera of Brian's personal life around 2002-2003 might find Nitro Burnin' Funny Daddy a liitle too... personal. Fair enough. If you take the music at face value, ignoring any sort of backstory you think you might know, the songs are pretty good. Lyrically, I think the songwriting's quite a bit better than 13, although in my opinion, Brian's at his best setting someone else's lyrics to music or co-writing with someone like Mark Winchester, The Paine Brothers, Rocker and Phantom... Beethoven.

There is a pervasive darkness throughout the album, as the songs alternate between bitterness, sadness, defiance, longing... even St Jude has a wistfulness over the loss of faith in the world. If you were to spread the songs out over several albums, you might not notice. Too Hip, Gotta Go, for example, is a standout Stray Cats track. Had it debuted on this album, would it have been dismissed as the ramblings of a lothario? I marvel at the execution of the variety of musical settings throughout the album, ignoring that the album is pretty much a lyrical downer.

60 Years, gives you a bluesy, almost ZZ-Top boogie. I like the groove far more than the lyrics. Having just lost Joe Strummer at the age of 50, the then 43-year-old Setzer takes inventory of the fragility of life - sort of. The message kinda gets lost in the anger.

Although also angry, Don't Trust a Woman in a Black Cadillac does give us this clever lyrical offering:

She plays it so cool
That she's hard to resist
She's like a tall smooth drink
With a poisonous twist

When the Bells Don't Chime is a fantastic banjo rave-up. The lyrics represent the defiance many of us have felt after being dumped. It's much more universally applicable than shoe-horning it into Brian's personal life. While I love the tune and believe it should be included on any solo "Best of" collection, I don't know that it's good enough to be on the album twice. (It closes the album as well in a mix where the banjo is more prominent.)

That Someone Just Ain't You is another of my favorites. Some may classify it as doo-wop, but the minimal Steve Cropper-esque guitar reminds me of I Won't Stand In Your Way, and the soulful vocals remind me of something I might have heard Wilson Pickett or Otis Redding belt out in the mid-60s.

Rat Pack Boogie deserved every bit of the praise it received as a Grammy-nominated instrumental. Part Les Paul, part Jimmy Bryant, this is another standout track. If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all - make it an instrumental.

Ring Ring Ring and Smokin' and a-Burnin' are the lone "really rockabilly" offerings on this album. Between the two, I'd opt for Smokin' and a-Burnin'. With all the car references, they sound a bit like outtakes from Ignition.

Drink Whiskey and Shut Up is a bit of comic relief that you will find in songs like "Who Would Love This Car But Me" and "Broken Down Piece of Junk." I can't bring myself to become the PC Police or condemn the entire song as a "homophobic rant" over the snickering "If it's wine and cheese you want, I think the bar next door is gay." Again, I dig the musical setting more than the lyrics, but they actually ring true for those of us who have had the experience of having our favorite watering hole invaded by a convention of yuppies who would be more at home at their local bistro or sports bar.

I never really cared for the lonely drifter ballad Wild Wind, the lone cover tune on the album. But hearing it while driving into the mountains of Colorado this summer, I actually appreciated the cavernous, spaghetti-Western reverb. It's the kind of song Dion might sing if he were John Wayne.

The optimism on To Be Loved seems a bit out of place on the album, especially following another vocal ballad in St. Jude. But I am a sucker for harmonies.

If you like the gypsy jazz of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grapelli, then you should definitely get the Japan edition of NBFD. The bonus track is the jazzy instrumental, Jumpin' At the Capitol, featuring Sid Page on violin. Although I like Wolfgang's For Lisa better, this one definitely swings.

This is where I like NBFD less as an entire album, instead embracing the individual songs. After the high-energy Smokin' and a-Burnin' there's the plaintive Wild Wind, then St Jude, To Be Loved, and the oddly out of place Jumpin' at the Capitol. It just seems like the album runs out of steam. Reprising When the Bells Don't Chime seems a little lazy, and not very cohesive. In the days of the LP, I think you would have two distinctly different sides to this album, and it might not matter as much. I do love some of the individual tunes, but the album's flow makes it one of those rare Setzer CDs I might eject before the end of the album.

I believe some of the downloading outlets are tacking on the BSO's Luck Be a Lady as an extra track, the way it was released at Best Buy stores here in the US (albeit as a bonus CD single). Why not? It can't hurt the flow of this album. And in this age where people download individual tracks rather than purchase entire albums, it represents a hodgepodge of a playlist you might find on an mp3 player.

Whew! Did I say I liked Nitro Burnin' Funny Daddy or not? I can't remember...

Of course I do. I'm going to go listen to it now.

If I Write Any More, I Might Wish That I Hadn't-billy

Nice thoughts Rick!
Although I must admit, I think Wild Wind could be my fav track on the album.
It's difficult to explain I guess why certain songs resonate within us more than others.
Good overall review man.

Posts : 662 Join date : 2008-04-18

The old Rickabilly is back! Nothing brings him out more than writing a review, or sharing information! I also liked Wild Wind because of the spaghetti western feel. I would have to agree also with the flow of the album - it does kinda run out of steam. I'm going to have to go put that cd on now!

Just played NBFD tonight at work in the cab.
I really love Wild Wind.Heck,even the wife does,which is a rarity.
Can't listen to the instrumentals.Think Jumpin' At The Capitol is complete pants.
Agree with Rickabilly on the When The Bells Don't Chime front.Not a fan of that track and twice on an album???
Even though I am a wine and cheese sort of guy(at home though not in a bar) I do dig Drink Whiskey And Shut Up.
Ring Ring and Smokin' n Burnin' are poor IMHO.
60 years is I think the stand out track for me,followed by Don't Trust A Woman.
I quite like St. Jude actually.
I certainly enjoyed playing the next CD Choo Choo Hot Fish a lot more.

Cheers
Steve

Guest

Il n'y-a pas de quoi Frenchy Cat!
But don't say you don't like or hate a song by Brian... you might be banned ;-)

Musically, I prefer 13 to Nitro and about the lyrics... Brian always talks about the same sort of things, at least in those 2 albums. I reckon that if we put together the good tracks from Nitro and the good ones from 13 we would get a superb album, don't you all think??

Now,13,as always IMHO is a cracking album if you take out the appalling Bad Bad Girl.
I absolutely LOVE The Hennepin Avenue Bridge and could listen to a whole Setzer album in a similar vein.

Cheers
Steve

Guest

I must say that my fav tune from 13 is "Back Streets Of Tokyo" together with Don't Say You Love Me, Everybody's Up To Something and Drugs & Alcohol... Rocket Cathedrals is a good one too, but Back Streets... yeeeeaeh, I really really love it!

Agree Jon,top tune.
Just wish that Super Soul Sessions DVD with Hotei and Char was a bit cheaper..well...a LOT cheaper actually!
Steve
Not forgetting Broken Down Piece Of Junk

NBFD is my fav' Brian's solo album. His most personal and a really rockin' one !

Posts : 733 Join date : 2008-04-18 Location : France

Hey Jon,
I really love all the songs from "13", I should say "13+1" as I've got the japanese CD version.
About the lyrics, ok, girls, cars, music are very often the subjects. But I like "Really Rockabilly" for its lyrics too, even if some pure fans were shocked. Anyway, I don't know which song I prefer ..... maybe the first one (Drugs & alcohol...).

FrenchyCat

PS: I wasn't negative in this post, may I stay Wink