Mould is a fungus, and mushrooms are fungi. From the other day’s “Mouldy Old Dough” we move to “Mushroom” by the classic “krautrock” group Can. And while “Mouldy Old Dough” is goofy and fun, “Mushroom” is about as foreboding and eerie as it gets.
Music
Almost an Instrumental
Yesterday’s bird looked an emperor, but today’s is officially a lieutenant.
I hope that the elderly lady’s witch hat did not cause any moral panics on satanism and the effect of rock music on the elderly.
Observin’ Bird
Continuing from the previous Bryan Ferry video is this far more creative one. Mr. Ferry was still going through his beard phase here, while the video is loaded with futurist imagery that also looks a little fascist.
But the real reason to watch is the star of the video, an unnamed eagle that sits on a perch, observing all around it with withering scorn. The makers of the video must have realized what kind of effect it would have, because it eventually gets projected onto the U.S.S. Enterprise viewscreen behind the singer, making its imperious dominance of everything it surveys even greater.
Seriously, this eagle should have had its own TV show.
More Velvet, Less Smooth
So yesterday’s Lawrence Welk mash-up was a Velvet Underground song, and here is the Velvet Underground performed by an unlikely cover artist, Roxy Music singer Bryan Ferry. One of his lesser known solo singles, “What Goes On” is interesting because Ferry not only performed it (light years from the smooth, crooner-ish solo material he favors) but added a new section to the end not found in the Velvet Underground original. The video is pretty average, but features Doctor Who-style video effects and the singer’s trademark awesome hair and strange dance moves. I also have to note that I think he looks like the love child of Christian Bale and Steve Carell.
UPDATE (ABOUT A MONTH LATER): Not being an indie rock hipster, my Velvet Underground knowledge has been spotty since I knew of their existence from reading one of those Rolling Stone magazine “Best 100 Albums” things back in the late ’80s. So I didn’t realize that Bryan Ferry not only expanded “What Goes On,” but did so by lifting sections from another VU song off the same album, “Beginning to See the Light.” I’m even more impressed now, realizing that he stepped around the minimalism of VU material by combining two simple songs into something more interesting. It seems that Mr. Ferry saw some light when he had this idea.
Wunnerfullerest
And here’s another very well-edited compilation of Lawrence Welk video with a rock song. As it happens, both today’s song by the Velvet Underground and yesterday’s by The Dandy Warhols are about being a junkie.
While I’m guessing that this is because the humor factor is greater in matching the square Welk with music about the drug culture, it seems strangely appropriate. I remember Welk’s show from my youth because my mom always turned it on and I could never get over the weird, fake smiles of the dancers and singers. Add in the fact that the show was relentlessly sponsored by Geritol, and the drug association is hilarious.
Wunnerful
Mash-ups of Lawrence Welk Show footage with rock songs never caught on as an Internet meme, but I never get tired of them. This one is extremely well done:
RUNESTAD WRITES 